Fallout: Road To Ronto
by JinxJenks
Summary: The Residents of Vault C-05 of the Canadian emergency vaults keep to themselves, but that does not mean that some of them don't like adventure. After hearing about the Oasis-like city of "Ronto" Joseph and his friends set off in search of an easier way to survive in the harsh wastes. (I do not own Fallout)
1. Welcome to Vault C05

As many people may already know, the FALLOUT universe is one of a different sort, to say the least, but for the people who do not know I will explain it.

The FALLOUT universe is a strange fictional place that split off from our own reality not long after WWII came to a close. Up to the year 2077 when the bombs dropped and caused the nuclear holocaust, culture in America and other developed countries over the globe, was very much stuck in the ways of the 40's or 50's, even the vehicles were reminiscent of this, although they had high-tech engines and other technological advances behind them. Which brings us to the next point of the FALLOUT universe, physics as we know them are not in place. For example: Nuclear radiation that would normally kill any living thing would instead mutate it beyond the point of recognition and even give them supernatural properties at times. Even though culturally the states and a lot of the world was stuck in the 1950's, technology advanced to the point of being sci-fi in nature, Laser weapons, Plasma weapons, among many others are now commonly found all over the "wasteland" that used to be our planet. Now to get the main story underway, it's time for a little backstory/history lesson.

Canada, being above the states on the map allowed it to be heavily influenced by the people of the United States, regardless Canada still advanced culturally faster than the states and allowed people of all creeds and colours into their land. In the late 2060's however when asked to allow US soldiers to cross over Canada in order to perform a pre-emptive strike on china, they refused. This caused the people of the United States to become paranoid, in effect the government also became paranoid, thus began the Annexation of Canada. The Annexation of Canada was one of the main contributing factors to the Great War of 77 as Canada was in good standings with the two other nuclear superpowers of the time, Russia and China. China had had enough of the suppression of the Canadian people by Oct. 23nd 2077 and threatened the US government, the government of the time felt insulted by the Chinese and decided to finally launch their pre-emptive strike.

The Button was pushed later that day, and the Nuclear Apocalypse that they had feared had come. Missiles full of atomic destructive power flew across the skies of every country that day, and the world was silenced.

Or so many had thought.

The American government, in preparation for the upcoming nuclear destruction had made a backup plan for the American people, hundreds of safe havens for the people of North America to live in, well after the bombs had dropped. The Vault-Tech Vaults were the place to be if you sought survival in this hellfire. These underground vaults were not only a safe haven for humanity, but also a sanctum in which the American government could conduct social experiments. Only 7 vaults in total did not have anything wrong with them.

If you could not gain admittance into one of the American vaults you would be directed to one of the Canadian "Emergency Vaults". A less told part of this history was that these were also part of a social experiment. In order to pick out the most suitable religion for the people of the future to follow all of the Canadian vaults were full of people of the same religion, to see which religion would produce more sub-religions, or which would produce the most fanatics. Amazingly to what would be the surprise of the American government (if they had survived inside of their own vault) Vault C-05, the vault full of unwavering Christians, Became a flourishing community, as did most of the rest, such as the Muslim vault which became a trade hub.

This is the story of a group of people from this vault after the vault had opened more than two hundred years later, and their adventures across the Canadian wasteland.

* * *

Chapter 1:

Welcome to Vault C-05

The view of the sunrise was amazing upon that hill, the clouds seeming to circle the sun as it rose over the horizon in a beautiful dance of nature. Fall leaves blew in the wind and obstructed the view of the once bustling freeway, now littered with destroyed vehicles of all sorts, and the skeletal corpses of the people simply called "the unlucky ones" people who did not take refuge in a vault.

"Look at it," said Joseph as he and Martin stared towards the east wondering what might be beyond, "Isn't it amazing how even after the war the sun still decides to shine down on us with the same beautiful radiance."

"Hell if I know," stuttered Martin, half laughing at what had just been said, "We weren't around back then dumbass, the sun could have been blue for all we know."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. You're so funny, you know I like staring out at the horizon and wondering what might be over there, it makes me… I don't know."

Martin started to laugh again, so Joseph got up to leave. The black hooded sweater he wore ought to have made him hot in all different kinds of weather, but it never bothered him even now in late august. The gasmask hanging down from his neck shifted from side to side as he moved, so did the holster for the ornate revolver he found when exploring the city, in fact almost all of the items that he owned had been found in the city, except for the vault C-05 jumpsuit that he wore beneath his jacket. Martin could have sworn that Joseph had OCD as he glared below to the holster on his belt and sighed.

"Damn it, wrong holster again." He then proceeded to swap his revolver from the holster on his waist to the one secured tightly to his chest, as he also removed the 10mm pistol that sat on his chest and sat it instead on his waist. "Well I'm going down to the vault entrance to hang out with the boys, you coming?"

"Yeah, what the hell…"

* * *

As they got down to the small settlement surrounding the entrance to the vault their eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the giant gear like door with the numbers "05" printed upon it. Joseph's friends sat on dirty half-ass repaired lawn chairs they had found in town. The vault was built into the side of a hill right beside Calgary, or what once was Calgary.

Josephs brown eyes and dark, long, wavy hair shone bright in the light of the rising sun. Martin's short light brown hair however, was always shining with a beautiful light reflected from whatever little light there was available, and his blue eyes had a look about them that made him seem surer of himself. He always wore a large brown leather jacket that had many pockets and atop his head was a caravan trader hat, he had always wanted to travel with the big caravans that passed through town, but thought it was best to stay here.

"What's up brother," Amos however was not Joseph's brother or Martins for that matter. "Take a seat, relax" he said as he threw a nearby chair towards him, his long dirty blonde hair waved as the air caught it, revealing his green eyes and a soul patch. He dawned a long brown trail duster with the numbers C-05 on the back, he obviously did that himself, under that a bullet-proof vest and a t-shirt. His legs were covered by a pair of black jeans that he had found in the city while exploring with the boys. "Mathews back so we won't be going into the vault."

It was only then that Joseph glanced over and saw another familiar face, a bigger man with long, wavy, brown hair, longer than his. He was showing off his pride and joy, his new suit of T-45d Power Armour he had received by training with the brotherhood of steel out west.

There was a law in the vault and the settlement surrounding it, if you go too far from the settlement or Calgary, when you returned you were no longer welcome in the vault, as you had abandoned your kin and sought personal benefit rather than that of the vault dwellers.

"Mathew, is that you!?" said Joseph

Mathew brushed his bangs back to reveal his deep, dark, brown eyes and said "What kind of a question is that? You forget your friends easy or somethin'?"

Joseph had never seen Matt in his Power Armour, it fit him nicely, other than the black gloves and the areas where the joints connected, the armour was made of a very hard, very deep gray metal, as solid as a mountain, its metallic surface was cold ice, cold steel that gave him a look of disconnection from the world. A cross hung from his neck, as did from all of the vault dwellers.

"Sup' man, you two have been up there for a while" James, a man with what Joseph would describe as Caramel skin, from the vault and a master of close-quarters stealth, proceeded to cough and say the word "Homo" to them under his breath. Everyone laughed except for Martin and Joseph and one other person that he noticed. Among the crowd was one more laugh.

These laughs were easily picked out by Joseph, Thaddeus, a tall man with freckles standing out on his pale skin brought out the colour in his green eyes and short light brown hair; he wore a beanie with goggles on them, for style purposes, and a gasmask hanging down his neck. A leather jacket adorned with two pockets covered his white t-shirt, he like Amos was wearing black jeans, although his were much baggier.

The other voice was Daniel, a bigger man than the rest, he wore a very dirty white hooded sweatshirt that didn't compliment his blond hair and blue eyes much, he too had a gasmask, but he also wore a bandana that covered the whole top of his head, tied in the back. Thaddeus wasn't laughing.

"C`mon now, ain`t no reason to be nasty." Thaddeus said this in a Strict tone to ward off James.

Daniel sat there silently giggling to himself as everyone turned to look at another approaching figure. He was carrying a mass pile of weapons on one shoulder and one on the other. As the man came closer you could make out that he was wearing goggles and had, yet again, a gasmask around his neck, it rocked back and forth on his neck. The man wore a soldiers helmet and army boots. He also had a camouflaged pair of pants and a matching jacket, Joseph thought they suited Solomon well.

"How's things." Said Solomon in his surprisingly "Nerd-esque" voice, making him look like a twelve year old. "we're going to the trade caravans today to—"

He was cut off by Amos "To trade, Duh?" Amos was always first to point out your flaws although it was evident that he wasn't being serious.

"In any case let's suit up" blurted Martin. This was odd because usually martin wouldn't need weapons as he dealt with the caravan dealers.

Joseph bent over the giant pile of weapons that Solomon had dropped on the ground in front of them. He saw a G36 rifle, His favorite ever since he first used it in the firing range years ago, and instantly grabbed for it and wrapped the strap around himself so that it would sit comfortably on his chest, he then saw a silencer and grabbed that too, he always liked being quiet. He then decided to travel heavy this time, grabbing both an Old hunting shotgun and a hunting rifle with a scope, he strapped both to his back and went to his shack to grab his medical supplies. Joseph was an accomplished medic/doctor in the settlement and took pride in his navigation and survival skills. When he grabbed for his sack some stimpacks fell out, he scrambled to get them in, as he headed out the door.

* * *

When he returned, the "Militia" was ready for an expedition; at least, that's how he liked to think about it, he liked adventure. Mathew was playing around with a laser rifle and had a power fist on, Martin held a silenced sniper rifle made with carbon fibre parts for light weight travel and had a silenced 10mm SMG on his waist, he was always a quiet fighter. Amos unsurprisingly had an M14 Assault rifle in his masculine looking hands, and an overly big magnum on his side that trumped his pistol, he also had another pistol, smaller than the other one, and a shotgun on his back, Solomon was fiddling with a bulky Plasma rifle that outsized all the rifles there and had two laser pistols on his waist, not to mention the technicians pack on his back, he was always a tech kind of man. James was in his stealth suit, black to the stiches, with black thin armour plating all over it, he was wielding a silenced SMG a lot like Martin's and two silenced pistols that were no bigger than his Pip-Boy, the part that scared Joseph was the two combat knives that he had on his arms, he had seen him fight a training dummy once with those things, he tore it to shreds.

Looking at them all in a group, you would assume that they were all around twenty years of age, this was right; Joseph was nineteen as was Martin. The rest were twenty except for James, he was nineteen as well.

He looked over and saw Thaddeus and Daniel grabbing their gear, Thaddeus was tying his shoe, but beside him lay a shotgun, it looked like a SPAZ but Joseph couldn't tell, on his back their was a Light machine gun of some kind, and he had a revolver on his waist. Daniel had essentially the same gear with him except he had an assault rifle instead of an LMG that wasn't dissimilar to Amos'.

Amos spoke first "Hey Joe, you ready yet, we gotta' get goin'."

"Yeah… Yeah I'm ready, let's go."


	2. Caravan of Dreams

Chapter 2:

Caravan of Dreams

It was around 8:00 in the morning when they left the safety of the Settlement and went on their way to the usual meeting location traders from all over The Canadian Wasteland met when passing through the rubble of Calgary's buildings. They went along the usual route through a trail made long after the war, presumably by some raiders who were passing through to get to the riches that the city may have to offer. The trail had many footsteps imprinted on top of its soft soil.

Joe looked over and noticed something he hadn't noticed before, after going through this same trail for years, a skeletal arm with shreds of clothing still on it sticking out from beneath the rubble. He cringed and looked away trying to convince himself. _You've seen this so many times Joseph, why now does this bother you. _He pushed all thought away and grasped at his rifle barrel. He walked on staring at the scenery of rubble and destruction, gray skyscrapers that no longer touched the sky shown in the morning light, leaves and sand blew past the group.

"It's been a while, eh Matty?" Amos said this in a way that made everyone feel like everything was like how it used to be and would be forever; they knew that in this day and age, it wouldn't be.

"Yeah, it's good to be back, the Brotherhood had too many rules." Joseph had heard stories of the Brotherhood of Steel, a group of people dedicated to finding as much advanced technology as possible and hording it, keeping it out of the reach of normal people, so that we would not destroy ourselves, a noble cause, but flawed in its execution.

Gun shots could be heard in the distance as they were accustomed to. Calgary was a big city and everyone wanted a slice of its hidden treasures, people were always fighting over what might be stashed beneath the rubble of the two century old buildings.

The city was covered in a dust cloud and dust storms frequented the area, Martin couldn't resist putting on his gasmask to stop the sand from getting in his mouth and nose, the noise of his muffled semi-robotic breathing was an annoyance to Joe, but no one else seemed to notice or care.

As they went on their way to the Trading post, the racket that was obviously being made by a mass group of traders got louder, and louder, until they reached a hill. As they clambered up the hill they saw the usual, a large amount of traders and people from settlements all over the prairies, a trader with a long overcoat and a shopping cart full of worthless junk approached them.

"Would you boys like to _peruse _my fine wares." The way he said 'Peruse' made Joe want to punch his face in, they didn't have the time to deal with people like this; the people of the vault needed their supplies as the traders only came twice a month, they couldn't afford to shirk this duty.

"Sorry old man, we're not here to browse, we're lookin' for supplies" spoke Amos, before anyone got a word in edgewise.

"Oh horse shit, you know you want to see what I've got in this here cart here." The old man stepped straight in Amos' way, and he, being the man that he is, simply pushed the man out of the way, walking as if no one was even there.

The man left them alone but stared venomously in their direction as they walked away. Joseph could notice Traders that he had met before, and they noticed him too. Emile, a smaller man with spiked black hair and glasses, only 18 years old, ran over to greet them, Martin spoke first.

"Emile, how havya' been?" Emile couldn't reply while he was running up the steep hill, brown dirt spraying his eyes as he made his way to where they were.

He caught his breath with his hands on his knees "Pretty well, we've been making a lotta' cash me and my Dad." Said Emile "Caps are caps."

"Here's to that." Added in Joe, trying not to be left out.

"Oh!" exclaimed Emile "I have to tell you a story later, about a place me and my Dad went to trade, it was AMAZING!"

"What's it called? Maybe we've heard of it" said Joe.

"Ronto."

"Ronto?"

"Ronto."

Thad added into the conversation. "Well what the hell kind of a name is that?"

"The name of an Oasis, it was pure wasteland Bliss!"

Amos, who didn't know much about Emile, beat the conversation to a bloody pulp. "I think you've been losing a few to many brain-cells from Radiation buddy?"

"Funny." Joe and Emile chorused.

"Well, let's go see your Dad." Amos said. "He's always been a good trader to get deals with."

Emile laughed a friendly laugh not pointed at anyone. "You better believe it by god!" they took but not one step until Emile said "Hey… do you fellas' hear som—"

A bullet whizzed through the air and landed not a foot from Joe, kicking up the dust from the miniature crater it created.

Without thinking about it both Mathew and Amos got onto their knees and aimed their weapons out to the western horizon. "Raiders!" Hollered Amos.

Over the horizon Joe could see something that he had only heard about from other vault dwellers, a Horde of Poorly, and Barely, Dressed men and women running towards them with machetes and hammers, clubs and pipes, with a very limited amount actually carrying Firearms. The ones that did were horrible shots, "Couldn't hit the earth if they aimed down!" Daniel laughed.

A Bloody battle ensued with traders of all kinds mowing down the near weaponless raiders as the traders herded their pack Brahmin out of the way of the fighting. Raiders leapt over the bodies of their allies, leaving them torn to shreds by a storm of lead.

"They're not gonna' go down easy," said Joe "they must be hopped up on psycho!" He screamed as he struggled to make his voice heard over the fighting. The whole group scrambled to get to the closest cover, Joe and Martin both hid behind the same rubble with Emile soon joining them. Emile pulled a pistol out of his jacket and leaned his fore arms over the top of the rubble, shooting randomly.

"My Dad already evacuated his Caravan, so I came back to help!"

"Thanks!" said Joe. A piece of rubble landed on Martin's lap, obviously from a bullet that hit the top of their cover.

Joe quickly turned and rose to face the crowd of Raiders, now only a few remained. Still full of adrenaline from the drug which they craved they continued to run at the caravan guards, getting mowed down in the process. Bullets flew by and Joseph saw an opening, He raised his rifle to his face, put the stock up against his shoulder and aimed down the sight. The fiendish raider saw him and ran at him with a knife in his hand, screaming. Josephs Vault combat training was about to finally pay off. "Die Junkie!" he threatened as he squeezed the trigger. Bang. The bullet hit the raider right in the chest, and another, and again. The raider fell backwards onto his back and laid there bleeding, and then died.

Just when he began to relax he heard someone scream as the two others scrambled for their weapons.

"Time to die you fucken' Snot nosed punk!" Joe turned around in time to see a man with no shirt and a torn up pair of pants running at him with a cows skull adorned on his face, a hammer in his giant hairy paws.

Joe looked down and quickly pressed a button on his Pip-boy 3000 attached to his left arm. A sentence appeared on the screen "V.A.T.S. mode activated" it said.

Suddenly a feeling shot up Joes arm and into his head continuing to spread throughout his body, it felt like time was slowed and his muscles relaxed. He saw the raider slow to a halt in a lunge position and stand like that. A bullet in the air was halted there and refused to move. Joseph remembered his training and imagined himself killing the man, shooting him like the other, and then suddenly 7 boxes popped up in his field of view, they displayed hit chances and damage already done to the body part that it represented, this he remembered from training. One of the boxes focused on his weapon, and then Joe knew exactly what to do. He imagined himself shooting the hammer out of his hand and then pegging him in the cranium with a bullet from his chest-holstered pistol. He heard a beeping sound and it was done.

He whipped out his ornate revolver, its golden trim stood out upon its black finish and shown in the morning light. He grabbed his rifle with one hand and pressed it against his shoulder and with a click his finger released from the trigger. One well-placed bullet nocked the hammer from his hands as the head of the tool hit the ground with a thud. The ruffian stopped himself with his foot and turned around, but by that time a bullet had already been lodged in his skull. Blood spurted out of the open wound and the barbaric man fell to the ground. Dust gathered around his body as it lay in a pool of its own blood. Time returned to its natural feel and everything felt so… fast.

Another raider came up on his flank screaming, Joe was ready to say his prayers. Then with a burst of booming sound the man fell to the ground, bleeding from his back.

A man with pale skin stood behind him weapon raised, in a sweater with tattered sleeves and hair like oil at midnight.

"Judas!" Joe cried out in joy.

The raider slowly turned back to look at his assaulter and let out a wad of blood and saliva from his mouth, he squinted his eyes and then they widened like a Brahmin that fell into a den of coyotes.

"You… Y-Y-You, what are you doing he—" Judas didn't give him time to speak as he raised his pistol and ended the brutes life with a riddle out the chamber of his gun.

Jude looked up at Joe and the others with a stern look on his face and cold eyes in his sockets, which eventually morphed into a smile and an expression of joy.

"Hey Joey, I haven't seen you around the vault for a few days." Said Judas

"Likewise Jude." Jude looked down at the raider and gave his body a nudge with his hiking boots. His smile turned to a frown again.

"What a mess."

"Should we move the bodies?" Martin asked

"Don't bother, it's part of the guards jobs." Emile pointed behind him with his thumb as the caravan guards, hardly scathed, began to move towards the corpses.

"I'm amazed you know how to fire a gun, you know with your nose always in those books." Joe pointed the question at Judas.

"Whoever said they couldn't be about guns." Judas said giggling

"Hey! You guys alright?!" they could hear Thad calling.

"Yeah! We're fine Ted!" shouted Jude. The rest of them rose out from other bits of cover, sheet metal and rubble, rocks, even the carcass of a Brahmin that had been shot.

"we're just gonna go trade now, like we PLANNED!" said Amos in a rage, who proceeded to kick a raiders corpse in the face. "Damned psycho Junkies!" he said not-so-below his breath.

"While we wait," said Emile "let me tell you about Ronto."

"While I'm covered in some other Kids Blood, no thanks…" said Joe

"Ahh, shut up Joe, tell us 'bout it 'Meel." Said Martin

Emile pulled out a map from his knapsack and sprawled it across the ground. Being a navigator, Joseph decided to immediately whip out his Pip-Boy and scan the map.

"Eager to hear are we?" said Emile. Joe shrugged and went back to scanning the map all over. There was a red line across the map, a route to a place labeled as 'R' somewhere in lower Ontario. "You see, this place called Ronto was a sprawling metropolis before the war, yeah, and when the bombs fell they went off trajectory and instead of hitting the center of Ronto, they landed on the outskirts, demolishing most of the city but leaving a crescent shaped area that was still livable on the west side of the city." All of their eyes widened in amazement "Obviously when the bombs hit, the people on that side of town still died… or turned into ghouls, but anyways, that area was resettled by a bunch of different people from all over Canada, and it is heaven on earth!"

Jude interrupted then "So you're saying that the city might still be irradiated?"

"Without a doubt it still is."

"And how many bombs dropped there?"

"Well, I didn't mention that but if you must know I've heard that it could have been anywhere from 10 to 30 atomic bombs." Judas' face lit up for a split second and then faded into boredom.

"And you say It's like an oasis?" said Joe

"It has all manner of supplies, and for cheap too!" Joe and Martin looked at each other then and their faces lit up, and stayed that way.

He then realized why the skeleton in the ruins bothered him so, the meat on the bones was still fresh.


	3. Plead for Freedom

Chapter 3:

Plead for Freedom

"We have to go!" Joe said looking at Mathew "Convince your dad to let us go!"

"I have no pull in the vault anymore; my father will just think I'm stealing away more people for one of my Technological Crusades."

"But this is for the GOOD of the Vault!" shouted Joseph, screaming apparently didn't help as Mathew looked at him with his usual eyes, filled with nothing but compassion, and maybe a bit of sarcasm.

"I can't… He won't listen, I'm not even allowed in the vault, Look!" He glanced around at the shanty they were currently in and turned back to the table that they were sitting at. The sheet metal roof creaked from the wind as sand blew through the cracks in the wood. "I'm living in a shack!"

"He's still your Father."

That must have got to him, because he said "Yeah, even if he is the overseer, he is still my Pops!"

"Exactly! Now c'mon, lets march our way up to the vault door and knock like madmen!" cheered Joe in triumph.

He slammed the door open and waiting on the other side was the whole crew, who he had already convinced. Matt looked very surprised.

"What in th—" he sighed "couldn't you have asked me first before anyone else, cause we know that only I can do this."

"Ahh, shut up big guy." Said Amos "We gotta' make this quick if we want to set out at dawn."

"Dawn?!" exclaimed Mathew.

"… Surprise!..." said Joe

* * *

"NO!" screamed the overseer "You will not take these people from their Families to have them never return!" The Overseer stared at Mathew with the look he would give the root of all evil.

"They have volunteered to go father, they can go if they want."

"No, they won't!" the scenery inside the vault was dark and futuristic, thick steel walls separated air from earth and the screws that held it together were starting to rust. "They would not dare abandon their families to go on a crusade to find your so called 'Heaven on earth'"

Amos butted in then, slamming his hand on the overseers desk "We are NOT abandoning our families, we're coming back with food and supplies."

"You lot are so selfish…" said the overseer "And you!" he pointed at Mathew "I allowed you back into our home to talk, this is how you repay me?!"

"You don't control me Father, God is the only one who can do that."

"Well I'm thinking god doesn't want you to do this—"

"What if he does!" interrupted Joseph, "How do you know what god desires, I've read the Bible too you know!?"

"How dare you!" the overseer said in an astonished voice "I would know better than you because I am the leader of this vault—"

"Joey here has probably read the bible five times more often than you." blurted out Judas.

The overseer went into a rage then and stepped toward Jude, raising his fist. Judas turned his head to the side in preparation for his punch, as he would do nothing, he was not a fighter. It was this moment that surprised everyone, Matt, with a scrunched red face, mouth wide open screaming, struck his father's left shoulder with his power-fist. There was a sudden Pop and Crack, the sound of shattering bones, and then screaming. Blood curdling, Horrifying, screeches that left the mouth of the overseer as he rolled all over the floor his shoulder bleeding out from beneath his Vault jumpsuit. Everyone expected him to call for the guards. Mathew's face was still beet red and full of anger. After a few seconds of experiencing agenizing pain he grabbed a stimpack from his desk drawer and stabbed his left arm with it. "Just… Just get out…" was all he said.

* * *

After they had all left the vault, they knew they wouldn't be going back in and the guards would find out what happened eventually, so they had to leave. They took a half an hour or so to grab some things and say goodbye to their families, telling them where they were going and why, but not telling them the truth of what happened in the vault.

* * *

Eventually they met up at the Caravan trading grounds where they met Emile again.

"So you guys got banished did ya'?" inquired Emile.

"That's the jist of it, yeah…" replied a saddened Martin.

"Well I was talkin' to my Pa earlier and I have good news." Said Emile

"What is it?" said Joseph wanting to be a part of the conversation, again.

"Me and a few of my friends can go with ya' if you're still goin' to Ronto!"

"Well that's great news!" said Martin, slightly cheered up.

"And I've got a surprise for the lot of ya." Everyone looked at each other and then looked back at Emile, Daniel leaned closer to him.

"Well, what is it?" said Daniel.

"Ha-ha, Follow me."

* * *

They eventually arrived at an old car wreck yard on the far east side on the city. Old cars and trucks piled high upon each other shown in the moonlight, lighting the way to their destination. There stood two people, one with short black hair and Deep Dark skin wearing a jean jacket without sleeves that Joe knew as Gregory, and a woman with long Brown-blonde hair clad in leather armour that covered everything except her Gut. They stood warming themselves over a fire that loomed out of the darkness from the burning wood inside of a barrel. Gregory looked up at Jude and stared at him for a short moment before looking back down at the fire. The woman approached the group with a wrench in her hand.

"Your finally here I see."

"Yep, brought the whole gang." Replied Emile to the woman.

Joseph couldn't see much, so he decided to turn on his Pip-boy light.

"Hey." Said the woman.

Joe looked up as she reached for his hand and gave it a firm strong shake. He was struck blind of all his surroundings by her, he couldn't understand why, she wasn't even all that attractive compared to the other women of the vault, average, he thought but beautiful in her own way. She stared at him with deep brown eyes "My names Jaden it's nice to finally meet you Joe, Emile here has told me a lot about you."

Joseph took a few seconds to collect himself as she continued to stare directly into his eyes, "The… The pleasure is all mine miss."

"Ooh such a Gentleman." She said giggling. Joe began to blush although no one noticed it.

"And you must be Martin." Jaden said to Martin.

"Yes, nice to meet you Jaden." He replied.

"I'm sure I'll get to know the rest of ya' soon enough."

Joseph looked down at his hand to realize it was covered in grease from Jaden.

"Hey!" shouted Emile, "are the cars ready yet?!"

Greg shouted back "Yeah, they're done!"

Amos and Matt looked at each other and then Matt stepped forward, "Did you say cars?" he asked

"Hell yeah I did, why you know how to drive?" said Greg

"Me and Amos here," he said pointing at Amos "learned to drive from books just in case we ever found one workin."

"Well today is your date with destiny." Said Emile "Now, I'll sort out the groups—"

"Wait, wait, wait, what groups?" said Thaddeus.

"Well if we all travel in big convoys we'll all be big targets for raiders so we're gonna' split into three groups each with an SUV."

"I'm not gonna' argue with that." Said Mathew, "I've had run-ins with raiders before with my Brothers of steel." He said rapping his power fist against his armour lightly, where his heart was, "They are usually a lot tougher than those pushovers that we met earlier."

"Ok then," continued Emile, "Matt you are the 'Commander' of team one, with me, Joe, Marty, and Jaden." Joe could feel his heart clinch in a vice within his chest.

"Greg is the commander of team two" Gregory walked over to the group then, "Along with Jude, Mike and Anthony."

Amos stopped him then "Wait a god darn second, who are Mike and Anthony?"

"They're two other friends of mine, Jude, you don't have a problem with that do ya'?" Emile asked with a concerned look.

"Naw, it's fine with me." He looked at Greg and smiled.

"Okay, then team three will be headed by Amos here, along with Daniel, Thad, James and Sal."

"Did you just call Solomon… Sal?" asked Amos

"Sol, Sal same thing," Replied Emile with a shrug. "are there any objections?"

Silence and whispers fell across the crowd.

"ok then, you get one hour to get ready, its 5am." Said Emile.

"When will your friends be here?" asked Amos with his arms crossed.

"Right now!" said Michael from on top of a pile of cars, his feet dangling over while Anthony crouched down next to him. Both of them had tan skin and black hair, only Mike had a buzz cut and Anthony's was draped over his shoulders. They jumped down landing with a thud, Mike clutching a large bag in his left hand.

"We brought all the weapons and supplies we could." Said Anthony with a sack wrapped around his back.

"Good job guys." Said Emile. The five of them grabbed their weapons, Emile clutched in his palm a Desert eagle and in his other he had an AK-47, which he wrapped around his back like how Joe wrapped his rifle around his chest.

"Oh that reminds me," said Joe to Judas. "Here." Joe grabbed the shotgun that was attached to his lower back and tossed it in Jude's direction, he caught it perfectly.

"Thanks, now I don't feel so naked." He smiled.

Jaden reached for an M16 and threw it on her back and then flung it around to her chest, just as Joe did. She then picked up an M9 and cocked it back to check if it was loaded, also removing the clip and putting it back after a thorough inspection. Jaden looked up and noticed Joseph looking at her, she smiled and Joseph looked away quickly.

The rest of them got suited up and everyone dispersed around the area to chat amongst themselves. Emile told Joe to mail his map to the rest of the men by using his pip-boy. Everyone was looking down at their wrists within the second, scanning and being generally intrigued. Emile revealed that there were three routes that were considered safe by his father. Joe's group would be taking the southernmost route, mostly along the highway and not through many big cities, Greg's would be the central route, and Amos' would be the Northernmost of the three.

"Ok, now everyone enjoy the rest of the hour before we set out." Said Emile one last time.


	4. Departing

Chapter 4:

Departing

"Okay, you guys ready." Matt said looking at his group, "How about you… uhmm…"

"Just call me Jane" said Jaden

"Why not jade?" said Martin

"Because Jade is a Green stone, I hate the colour green."

_Good thing my favorite colour is Blue_ thought Joseph.

"I call Passenger seat!" said Martin.

"Just call shotgun." Objected Matt.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I read it in a book once."

Martin hopped into the passenger seat of the Brown SUV and put down his rifle by his feet, he reached for the belt.

"What is this thing?" he said.

"That's a seatbelt." Said Matt, "you put it in the slot on the other side of the seat after you've sat down."

"Neat!" Exclaimed Martin.

"Hey Emile," asked Mathew "how did you guys get your hands on three working vehicles?"

"Well," explained Emile "When the bombs went off, the nuclear radiation destroyed a necessary chemical compound in most fuels, and rendered all nuclear powered vehicles completely useless, but this is an electrically powered vehicle, took a while to find, we even have a generator in the back."

"_Nice._" Said Matt after he had put his T-45d helmet on, his voice now had a robotic output to it.

Matt stepped into the car and sat down in the driver's seat, and Emile sat in the Left window seat.

"Not bitch seat!" shouted Jane.

"Aw crap…" sighed Joe.

Joseph sat down in the middle seat of the back of the vehicle, while Emile sat very close to the window on his side avoiding touching Joseph altogether, Jaden sat slouched over to the side, squishing Joseph over to that same side. It was quite awkward as he tried to stand his ground and push her back, they both became squashed against each other quite close, Jane not seeming to notice, thankfully for Joe. Jane sat her weapons down at her feet.

"This is gonna' be fun." Said Jaden with her arm pushing against Josephs right side.

"I… I hope so." He replied as he sat his hunting rifle down in the back of the SUV. He clutched his rifle and sat there quietly while Matt tried to get the car started.

"Is that a 10 millimetre!?" Jaden spitted out gesturing toward his right hip. Joe pulled the gun out of its holster and held it sideways with both of his hands.

"Yep, why, you like it?"

"Are you kidding, those things are hard to find these days."

"Not as hard as this I bet." Joseph proceeded to unzip his hooded jacket and pull out his ornate revolver, resting the other gun in his lap. He spun the six holed cylinder where the bullets were housed.

"Whoa…" she said, "that is amazing, wheredya' get it?"

"Exploring in the city with Marty."

"Wow…" she said still looking down at the 10mm on his lap.

He sighed and picked up the pistol "If you keep it in good condition, you can have it for the whole trip there."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled a radiant smile "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah…"

"Oh yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said snatching it out of his hands. She put it in her own holster on her right and swapped it with the pistol currently there, instead putting it on her left.

"You. Are. Awesome." she stated as she hugged his arm and went back to slouching across the seat. Josephs face had never blushed that much in his entire life.

"_Is everyone ready?_" said Matt equipping a new charge into his laser rifle and then placing it beside himself, "_The others already left and we're supposed to be the last ones to go_."

"Yes." Chorused everyone.

"_Good._" He said as he jerked the stick into drive and let down force on the pedal. Martin wasn't prepared for that obviously as he grabbed on for dear life. Matt turned the vehicle left and right until they had left the maze of wrecked cars behind and exited the vehicle graveyard. He turned on to the road and went east as planned, looking down at his GPS that Greg had installed for him and all the other teams, it showed the locations of the others if they were close by; right now however there were no blips on the radar except theirs. The ride was quiet for a few minutes until Martin said.

"Wasn't expecting that…" matt proceeded to laugh in his robotic voice.

A half-hour later things were fine, traveling down the freeway at 100 kilometres an hour, chatting to each other and joking about life, watching the scenery go past. Out the left side of the vehicle were two Night stalkers, big nasty half coyote, half rattlesnake monstrosities of nature, and they were picking apart some poor man's corpse and hissing at each other.

"Poor Bastard," said Emile, "didn't stand a chance…"

"at least it's not us." Interjected Martin.

The monsters continued gnawing at the man's body and spurting blood everywhere, they began fighting over his dismembered arm, their scaly tales rattling and their scaly backs and heads shining in the morning light.

They continued down the highway "I'm 19," said Jane, "how about you?"

"Same" replied Joe, no longer feeling all that uncomfortable around her.

Jaden just smiled at him and turned to look out the window at the fields of infinite grass, she had wide cheek bones he thought, he didn't mind that though.

"This trip is going to take a while you know that right?" said Emile

"A week at the least." Jane answered.

"_Yeah, and we'll have to stop to Scavenge for supplies._" Added Mathew, his eyes still intently focused on the road, swerving around defunct vehicles and debris of all sorts.

"_Unluckies,_" he said "_everywhere…_"

There were bodies covering the streets, the charred skeletal remains of anyone who was 'unlucky'. Skeletons still sat in their cars and trucks, scattered among the remains were personal belongings and something that Joseph had only seen once in the city.

Ghouls. Dead ghouls luckily, they had obviously survived the blast for a short time and then died, or had been killed later on by raiders, or wanderers like them.

"Martin, you got those snacks that I told ya' ta' bring?" demanded Joe.

"Of course I do!?" he pulled a box out of his knapsack and handed it over to Joseph. It was blue and white, with the name 'Sugar Bombs' on the front, 'Explosive Great Taste!' was the tagline at the bottom. He tore open the top of the cereal box and reached his hand inside tearing open the bag inside as well, he grabbed a big handful of the cereal bits (Shaped like atomic bombs) and put them in his mouth chewing like a hungry dog.

"Hey, give me some." Jaden reached into the box without truly asking and drew out a large sum of the sugary snack; she too shoveled it into her mouth with no concern for etiquette. Martin cracked open a bag of potato crisps and started munching his own salty 200 year outdated snack. Emile was asleep and Mathew was intent on keeping alive on the road. Mathew's pip-boy began to make a beeping sound, he turned over to the side of the road and parked the car, then he pressed a button on his wrist.

"_Hey there Matt!_" said Amos' voice. "_Just called in to tell Emile that we picked up his friend for him._"

Matt took off his helmet, "What Friend?"

"Just a Girl that I know that wanted to come along…" said Emile, apparently he hadn't been sleeping.

"You mean Sammy?" asked Jane, her head leaned forward and staring at Emile.

"Yeah, that's her."

"_Hey Emile! What's up?_" called a voice from the other side of the pip-boy.

"Nomuch' how 'bout you."

"_Same old, Same old. But we've gotta' go now, scavenging ya' see?_" she replied.

"Well good hearing from you, see ya'll soon." Said Emile

"_Yeah whatever._" Said Amos before hanging up.

Matt kept his helmet off when he spoke, "Ok, there is a town up ahead, started with an S or something." He continued, "We'll scavenge for food there, as well as other supplies." Everyone gave nods of agreement.

* * *

"H-Hey, Guys? Where are you?" stuttered Mike as he stepped out of the shadows, his heart beating franticly and his rifle clenched in his fists and held close to his chest. He continued walking down the alleyway that he thought he saw them go down.

"This ain't funny guys, c'mon now." A bead of sweat dripped down his Dark face and hit the ground. His jaw dropped as well as his arms when he saw it before him. His Brother Anthony lay at his feet with two bullet wounds in his chest and one directly in the center of his forehead. He slowly looked up and then slipped backwards on the pool of blood, landing on his rump. There stood two men one with a gun held out, they were covered by the shadows of the alley. Mike rose his hand and saw it stained with blood.

"But I—" the man fired then, and everything went dead silent, the two men walked away without a word leaving the bodies. The two brothers lay beside each other; the ground surrounding them stained crimson with their shared blood. Left to die in some town, no longer with a name; both the town and them.

* * *

When they arrived in the town with the 'S' Matt parked the vehicle next to an old convenience store and started up the generator in the back of the SUV.

"Okay let's get some stuff, and explore a bit." Said Emile.

"What about the car, I don't wanna leave it like this," Spoke Joe, "someone could steal it."

"No they can't," said Jaden undoing her seatbelt and opening the door of the vehicle. "They need the passcode to start it." She then pointed to the console that held a screen with 10 numbers on it and an enter button.

"…Oh" whispered Joseph, feeling a bit stupid.

They exited their seats and closed the doors shut, while Mathew fumbled around with something in the back of the car, the rest went into the store to see what they could find. It was dark, the windows in the front of the store didn't help light much of the room, dust blew past the windows as they opened the door, and then a bell chimed. Martin whipped out his pistol and held it forward.

"It's just the bell on the door jumpy." Laughed Emile. Martin looked back, embarrassed and put his gun back in its holster. Mathew, still outside, swatted at the insects that were bothering at his neck.

"Split up and find food, stale, expired, doesn't matter" ordered Joe when the four separated across the small room with shelves lined with almost nothing, the floor had more food on it. Joseph walked up to the drink area and opened the door to look at the 'Not so Cool' drinks. His eyes lit up like he had just seen god, maybe he had. A full six pack cardboard case of glass bottled 'Nuka~Cola', the red casing was tattered from age, but it was otherwise untouched. He took the handle of it and let it down to eye level to admire it, like you would admire fine art or the man who saved your life. The Ting, Ting, Clank, sound of the bottles was music to his ears and to his tongue, their red labels glistening in the small amount of light.

"Guys! Oh man this is awesome!" he shouted for the whole world to hear. Everyone grouped around as he shielded them from being stolen out of their homes.

"Oh my god!" Spoke Jane first, "Nuka Cola! Yes we hit the jackpot!"

"Quick, look around for more." Flung in Emile suddenly excited. They began searching and, soon enough, they returned with three more cases of the bubbly, refreshing, cola drink.

"My god…" spoke Matt astonished when they returned, "We've GOT to find a way to cool them now."

"We'll find a way I'm sure." Said Emile then.

After a few hours of piling food into the car a beeping sound went off again, this time it was Joseph's Pip-boy that rang for an answer. He pressed the button and listened in.

"Hello?" he asked cautiously.

"_Oh thank god, This is Jude._"

"Judey boy! What happened?" he continued, "What's wrong?"

Everyone grouped around him listening in. "_It's Mike and Tony…_" Jude began panting frantically, "_They're dead…_"

Emile just stood there with his jaw practically touching the ground.

"Who was it?!" Shouted Jaden into the Microphone of the wrist mounted monitor, "Who did this!?" she had an extreme look of pain and anger on her face and you could hear it in her voice.

"_That's the problem, we don't know yet,_" Spoke Gregory out of the speaker, "_we found them in an alley with holes all over them, blood everywhere._"

"Was it raiders!?" spoke Emile.

"_Emile,_" said Judas "_calm down, we don't know yet._" Everyone went dead silent for a few moments contemplating what had just been told to them. "_We need to go now, we'll bury the bodies._" Greg broke through the silence and without a goodbye they hung up.

They continued to stand there for a few minutes more and then gathered themselves. "We need to keep moving east," finally spoke Mathew, "we can't let this hold us back."

"Dammit!" Screamed Emile as he Pounded the Vehicle with clenched fists. "How did this happen…"

"It's life!" shouted Matt as he walked towards Emile "Death is inevitable, maybe it was better that they learned that now, besides they're in a better place as far as I know."

"You think that helps?" said Emile, his face drenched not with tears, but sweat that told how the pressure had gotten to him "Maybe we want them here with us instead, maybe they would rather be here than there!"

"It doesn't matter what we or they want!" hollered Matt directly in Emile's face and giving him a surprise "We don't have control over that, now get over it!" Emile just stood there with his mouth wide open.

"He's right Emile," said Martin with his hand on Emile's shoulder "We can't change the truth."

* * *

After maybe five minutes of driving down the main road Mathew pulled up into a large parking lot with wrecked cars here and there. He put the car in park and then turned around in his seat,

"We didn't find much in that old store, so let's head into the Super-Duper Mart real quick, ok."

Emile was still staring at the floor, obvious depression in his eyes. "Hey." Said Matt "Could it hurt you to smile, actually… let's find out."

Matt reached for Emile's cheeks and forced a smile on his face with his hands, Emile jerked back with his face snapping back into place and started laughing, and smiling.

"Apparently not." Smiled Mathew

Mathew unlocked the doors and then leaped out of the vehicle followed by the rest of the group. Emile clutched his Desert eagle in his right hand and slammed the door with its barrel. They gathered around the front of the Car and looked at Matt for direction. Jaden flung her Rifle over her right shoulder, barrel pointing toward the sky.

"I hate being in charge, Joseph can't you do it." It didn't sound like a question.

"Are you serious?" sighed Joe, his rifle arm slouching to his side.

"Yes." Matt said, staring back at Joseph.

"Ok Matt, you stay with the car per usual and the rest of us will gather supplies. Good enough?" Joseph shrugged and shook his head after he was done and looked at Mathew. "Not so hard is it?"

"Oh my g-o-o-o-o-d, just shut up." Sighed Matt, Joseph laughed to himself, he thought it sounded funny when he pronounced 'God" like that.

"Well are we ready now?" asked Jane.

"Sure lets go." Joe said as he walked toward the Supermarket.

They arrived at the door after what seemed like an endless parking lot littered with old corpses, which is actually what it was. "Ok." Said Joe, "Now we need to force open the doors, the automatic doors aren't so… automatic anymore." Jaden didn't understand what he meant obviously as she simply kicked in the glass of the door and ducked through the makeshift entrance.

"Are you kids comin'?" she said with a slight smile on her face.

The rest of them ducked under in the same fashion and made their way toward the check-out counter to organize.

"Okay, this place is pretty damn big, so we should stick together, agreed?" spoke Martin first.

"Agreed." Joseph said next.

"Good idea." Said Emile. "Wouldn't want to end up like the Spic Brothers!"

Jaden's face turned blood red and her hand slapped across Emile's face as hard as it could, she grabbed his collar. "What is wrong with you, they were like family!?" A mark started to show on Emile's face now.

"I just can't believe that they would die so easily, so early on!" He continued "They were stronger than that, they just can't be dead, they just…" his eyes began to water and Jane let go of his jacket.

"I'm sorry…" admitted Emile, "It's just so hard to accept it." Joe walked over and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him to his feet, the light from outside the doors was bright and everyone was a half silhouette in the morning suns golden glow.

"It's over. It's done." Spoke Joseph, "We can't do anything for them, but we can save ourselves.

"okay, okay, yeah, you're right." Sniffled Emile.

"Meel', it's okay." Spoke Martin

"Thanks Marty."

"Can we go now, my wrist hurts." Smiled Jaden. Joseph just laughed and said:

"Okay, let's go, Pip-Boy lights on." Martin and him turned on their Pip-Boys and walked to the front of the group, walking by shelves, mostly empty and grabbing what they could. Jane grabbed a few cans of Pork n' Beans, as well as some old bread that hadn't been opened yet. Emile grabbed pretty much anything he could as far as Joseph could see. When they got to the end of the aisle Joseph found a 10 pack of bottled water, untouched it seemed. He grabbed it and then the weight of it hit him. "Oh shit!" gasped Joe, "Someone get me a trolley!" luckily one wasn't too far away, so martin leapt over and brought it back, Joseph let out a long sigh after he had dropped the water onto the trolley with a thud. Another loud thud came from somewhere else and then the sound of hushed groans and whispers.

"Please tell me someone else heard that?" whispered Jaden back into the darkness. Instinctively everyone set down their groceries and turned off their pip-boy lights. Joseph look down at his dim pip-boy screen and scanned the compass, it showed three other life forms apart from them. He got out his pistol and knife and crossed his knife arm under his right. Walking forward slowly, "Marty, follow." He demanded in a hushed tone. Martin turned around.

"You two stay here." He said. They simply nodded and then crouched down with weapons drawn. Joe and Martin continued walking down the side aisles, waiting for something to happen, Martin tapped Josephs shoulder.

"What is it." He asked.

"Take one." Martin held out two white pills.

"What is it?" Joe asked whilst taking the capsule from his friends palm.

"Just do it." Joseph trusted Martin enough to listen and he swallowed it.

The whole room lit up and he could see just how massive the store was, the ceiling was at least 20 metres up off the ground and the aisles went on for a while.

"I never knew you had Cat-Eye?"

"Later ok?" replied Martin as he pointed ahead. There Joe could see them, three raiders, stumbling around in the dark trying not to trip over one another. They could tell they were raiders, blood stained everything and weird helmets all around. Martin held out something and, once again, Joseph was surprised at what he saw. In his palm he held a Frag grenade, the yellow lining on the top and bottom of it hurt his now sensitive eyes.

"Are you serious!?" said Joe.

Martin simply stared at him, "You can throw better than I." Joseph slowly shook his head and took the grenade.

"Okay, fine." He said. He pulled the pin out and lobbed the handheld explosive across the room and it landed perfectly between the three ruffians.

"Oh Shit, fucken ru—!" it was too late, the explosion sent shelves flying as well as the three raiders, one screamed out in agony as he flew forward and fell just a few feet from the boys. The one closest to the wall had been totally obliterated when his body had hit that same wall, he now lay with his limbs mangled on the ground. The woman that had been on the side with the shelves now lay in a mess of broken shelves along with boxes and cans of numerous kinds. The man before their feet was still alive.

He groaned and tried to lift himself off the ground with his arms, charred skin up to his shoulder. It was then that they noticed that his left leg had been blown off in the explosion, blood gushed from the blackened wound and he cried out in pain. He looked up at joseph, tears pouring from his eyes. Joe reached into his medical pack and pulled out some Med-ex, he crouched down beside the man and injected it into his neck; the man let out a sigh of relief and let his head fall to the ground.

"_Ut tibi Deus_." Whispered joseph as he raised his gun and then brought it to the man's head, he pulled the trigger and then a thunderous roar echoed through the store, Martin looked down at the man and back at Joseph.

"What?" is all he could think to say to him.

"_Ego potest loqui Latine_, I learned how to speak some basic Latin back in the vault from old books." Replied Joseph looking back at Martin, "Still not sure if I've gotten the grammar right though."

"What did you say to him?"

"May you find God." Said Joseph turning on his heel to return to the group.

* * *

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Jaden, "What happened over there? We were going to get up to investigate but we thought it was best not to."

"It was three raiders, we took care of them." Joseph brushed his greasy locks away from his face and looked at the two of them. "Are you ready to go?"

"We gathered a bit of food while you were away and I think we have enough, just look at the trolley." The trolley was stacked high with food just as he had implied.

"Well then, let's go." He spun the cylinder of his revolver and put it in its chest-bound holster, as they began to walk back out of the store.


	5. Ut Deus Nobis

Chapter 5:

Ut Deus Nobis

"I never knew you studied other languages in your spare time?" said Martin, the two of them were somewhat trailing behind Jaden and Emile who was pushing the cart through the parking lot.

"Only the one, it would get too confusing with any more." Their eyes squinted in the light; their eyes were still adjusting from the cat-eye they had taken. "Damn I hate the sun sometimes!"

"Aw, how could you hate it's _Beautiful Radiance?_" mocked Martin, he had forgotten how good his memory was.

"Fuck off!" defended continued across the parking lot until they could see Mathew clearly slouched against the vehicle, Joseph went to wave toward him, but he saw something. As they got closer he noticed what appeared to be a body on the pavement beside Mathew. The man, now obviously dead, had laser wounds on his chest as well as a vaporized right arm with ashes everywhere. Matt pushed off of the vehicle and walked towards them still clutching a Laser-Rifle.

"What in the…" was what Martin said as he stood over the corpse, he had light brown hair and dark eyes that stared on into the sky from his dead body.

"Son of a Bi… what happened?" said Emile.

"This bastard here attacked me out of nowhere." Answered Mathew, "He said something about this being 'just business' and then opened fire, he missed my head though, thank god." Joseph crouched down by the carcass of the man and stared, confused. He couldn't be a raider, no he was to well-dressed to be one of them, he wore a business suit and had a fedora atop his head, a fedora which was now a few feet from him on the ground. Martin stared at the hat with a feeling of intention.

"I'm gonna' take that hat." He finally said.

"Be my guest, he won't need it anymore." Replied Mathew. Martin reached down for the hat and plucked it off the ground, dust clouds whirled by as he took off his hat and positioned the new hat on his head, carefully adjusting it with both hands on the front and back of its dark rim.

"That's a nice look for you." Said Jaden.

"You think so?"

"Yeah," interrupted Emile, "It don't look not half bad." Joseph, who considered himself a master of grammar even if he wasn't all that good with some sentence structures, twitched and then turned to Emile.

"That was a double negative." He said.

"A dubby neggawa?" he replied with his head turned to the side.

"A double negative, it's where-" he was cut off by a ringing sound, high pitched but smothered. Mathew looked down at his wrist and then turned his pip-boy on, looking at the screen Joseph could see that there was a single line across it, it fluctuated to the sound emanating from the speakers.

"_Can you hear me, hello!?_" it was Amos, Joseph breathed a sigh of relief, "_Hello? Hello!?_"

Mathew answered as he usually did, "What's wrong? Something sounds wrong!"

"_Of course something's wrong numb-nuts!_"

"Well what is it?"

"_Some asshole walked up to us in the middle of some backwards ass city and threatened us, he overestimated himself and we gunned him down, but not before he got Daniel in the god-damned leg!_"

Matt's eyes began to widen, "What did he look like?"

Amos seemed agitated, "_Why in the fuck does that matter… I don't know some kinda' suit and a hat, shady lookin' character. I got 'em in the head._"

Mathew's whole body tensed as his suspicions became a reality enveloping them, he realized what was happening. "Amo' Someone matching that description just jumped me, I killed him but…" he looked down at the sharp-dressed man's body, "Something's going on here, someone must want us dead."

"_What in the blithering FUCK are you babbling 'bout you paranoid metal bastard. What, is it the 'Enclave' oooooooh I'm so scared of a bunch of punk tin fucking cans!_" Amos angrily shouted

"You take that back you son of a bitch, 'fore I shove your gun so far up your ass that you'll get lead poisoning!" Martin let out a little giggle and Matt turned to look at him.

"_Come and get me then, I dare ya'!_" Amos laughed in the mike.

Matt kicked the ground and then raised the wrist of his left arm to his face, he let out a long sigh, "Is Daniel alright?" he wiped the sweat off of his brow as beads began to form on his chin from the heat and the stress.

"_Yeah he's gonna' be fine, a stimpack or two will heal 'er right up._"

Matt hung up then, without so much as a goodbye. Joseph saw him dialing another number and it began to ring.

"_Hello?_" answered Judas.

"Hey there… just checking up on things… is everything alright with you two?"

"_Oh Matty! Yeah except for the funeral everything went fine._"

"What? What happened at the Funeral, did someone attack you!?" Matt had a distressed look all about his body.

"…_What? No, it was just sad is all._"

"Oh!" Mathew had the look of both distress and relief on his face, and what seemed like disappointment in his voice, "Well me and Amos just got jumped by two shady bastards, did you know about that?"

There was a long silence as the sun continued to rise in the sky, it was getting close to Noon. "_No, No I wasn't Told yet_." He stayed silent for a few moments, "_Is everybody alright_?" he finally decided to ask.

"Yeah everybody is fine!" shouted Joseph into the microphone. Jaden giggled a little at him.

"_Well that's good to hear but we have to get going, talk to you later._"

He hung up then, everybody dispersed around the vehicle to get in, choosing their seats, unfortunately for Joseph they were the same as before, he had the middle seat. Mathew simply stood there looking at nothing, wondering if he was just paranoid, he decided that Amos was right and then got in the Car.

* * *

The next morning Joseph awoke in the passenger seat of the SUV. He rubbed his eyes and looked around stretching as he did so. Mathew was slouched in the driver seat as he had expected and his helmet lay by his feet, barely touching the gas pedal. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Martin first. He was sitting with his rump sliding off the seat and his arms at his sides clutching a pistol. He looked over farther and saw Emile and Jaden leaned towards each other, both sleeping peacefully. Jaden had her mouth formed in a smile, while Emile had his sloppily wide open. Joe couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy. He looked around at where they were and saw that Matt had parked in the back alley behind super-duper mart. Joseph pushed his hands against the seat and pulled himself into a sitting position; he looked over at Matt again and then shook his shoulder. Mathew snorted and his eye-lids flickered as his joints contorted with his usual wake up routine, Joe couldn't think of what to call it really.

"Wha… what, I'm awake, I… I'm up!" Joseph let out a snort as he couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay man, it's time to get up." Joe peered down at his pip-boy and saw that it was indeed time to get up, eight thirty.

"O… Okay, Hey guys!" he hollered this quite loud, "Get the fuck up! We're leaving!" He said this half asleep and Joseph could not take him seriously at all. The rest of them clambered out of their slumber and rubbed as well as scratched numerous parts of their bodies wondering what was going on.

"Well," Joe said, "none of us seem to be mornin' people."

"No…," Martin yawned, "Shit."

Joseph glanced downward and saw that all of his belongings were accounted for. Mathew started the car and put his foot down on the pedal; they left the dark damp back alley and squinted as well as shielded their eyes. The sun was extremely bright after so long in the dark alley way, as much so as being asleep wouldn't help. Mathew said something unlike that of a gentleman and then drove onto the main road.

They drove for a bit before Mathew spoke:

"By the way, I did a Geiger count on the Nuka-Cola," Joseph knew straight way that it wasn't good, "It's Irradiated alright, a few units of radiation a second straight to your blood after drinking that shit."

"Screw that," said Martin, "I'll drink that if I wanna', I have some Rad-away as well as Rad-x, it'll be fine."

"Your funeral." Spoke Matt again.

"As long as we put some of the Rad-x in the Cola itself we should be fine." Said Joe then.

"Fine, just don't kill yourself." Said Matt, "Or do."

* * *

As hours passed the group were getting restless, Jaden spotted a large cargo truck off to the side of the road in a ditch, Mathew pulled over beside the tall grass on the cracked pavement. They made their way down the slanted walls of the ditch and found themselves beside the large eighteen wheeler, it easily dwarfed their SUV.

Jaden had her rifle rested on her shoulder and her other hand on her hip, Joseph couldn't help but look at her hips, the way they curved up towards her chest in a perfect hourglass shape. He snapped out of his trance as Matt nudged his shoulder. "I'll go in first" said Jaden. She waltzed over to the end of the giant trailer and climbed into the entrance that lay on its side, peering into darkness. She scrambled to her belt and pulled out a flashlight, illuminating the room as she turned it on and looked around with intent. She stumbled over some old boxes and kicked a few broken bottles along the way. When she had gotten to the end she saw something peculiar; a lockbox, or safe, or footlocker, she couldn't tell, but it had a lock on it, and that fascinated her. She returned outside landing with a thud on the ground, flattening the tall grass underfoot. The rest gazed at the box and moved closer. They went up the ledge of the ditch and then she set it down on the black-top.

"Any ideas?"

"One." Said Joe, he leaned down and went into a crouch in front of the steel box, it wasn't that big, maybe as big as his arm. He pulled out a screwdriver out of his knapsack as well as a bobby pin, he carefully inserted the bobby pin and then moved it around as if searching for something and he heard a sudden click. He then moved the screwdriver into position on the side of the lock and turned the bobby pin as he applied force via the screwdriver. It clicked open. "Place your bets, what's inside?"

"Pre-War toys." Said Martin.

"Pre-War Money?" shrugged Emile.

"Pre-War Junk." Said Jane, crossing her arms.

"A Super Mutant's head." Said Matt, smiling wide. Joseph grasped the edges of the lid and lifted. Within the small steel box there lay an object wrapped in red fabric of some sort, it was smooth and felt like silk or another superior cloth. He ran his hand over it; it was small that was sure. He lifted the cloth and saw a gun. He gave out a laugh from deep in his chest.

"Ho-ho-ho-hoooo, this is awesome!" the pistol he held in his hands was equipped with a silencer. It's hilt had a nice grip on its sides; textured. "This is a .45 auto pistol, holy shit! I called it I so fucken' called it!"

"Whoa! Slow down!" said Mathew with his hands outstretched and palms facing toward Joe, "I don't even think anyone else needs it or wants it, right." Everyone glanced around at each other as Joseph closed the footlocker and kicked it off of the cracked pavement, down into the ditch, he clutched the gun in his palm. Jaden took out the ten millimetre pistol that he had given her; she stared at it for a little and let her arm slide down to her side. She sighed.

"I don't need it…" she kept eyeing the pistol in his hands, not understanding why she didn't want it! The others obviously did not understand why Joseph was so excited; it was a magnificent weapon. She had always been an enthusiast of sorts, and now more than ever she wanted what she saw, a firearm worthy of a king. She couldn't, Joseph's happiness was too profound and it had rubbed off on her, maybe she just liked seeing him happy although she couldn't understand why, "You keep it if you want." _Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!_ She thought, _Why didn't I take it? He would have happily given it to me, grudgingly, but willingly._ She nodded all thought away and tried to ignore the weapon he held in his hands. She was snapped out of her reverie by the warm embrace of another.

"Thank you so much… are you sure? Y-You are the one who got the box out?" stuttered Joe after releasing her from his hold. Jaden tried not to take it back, she fought with her conscience for a while, and then said:

"I want you to have it, I wanted to return the favor." She rubbed the side of her ten millimetre.

"Well thanks…" he, Joseph began to blush as he rubbed the back of his head with an open palm.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's just get out of here okay?" hurried along Emile. They went up to the SUV and Emile got in first, taking the same seat he had before when they had first started on their journey. Joseph hopped up and into the automobile next sitting in the middle seat, grudgingly. Jane got in next.

"Hey?" said Joe, "isn't it you're turn in front?" Jaden began blushing and she put her head down to try and conceal this.

"I… I-I just didn't want to be in the front, not as comfortable you know?" Joe raised an eyebrow to her statement.

"Whatever you say." She climbed in then and buckled in her seatbelt, she laid back and exhaled. Martin clambered into the front and hit his sniper-rifle on the top of the vehicle.

"Son-of-a…" he sighed and bent down to get into the car.

* * *

As the ride went on Joseph had noticed that Jaden seemed to be getting gradually closer to him… physically. She slid more near him every few minutes acting as if nothing was wrong. Joe put his hand over his waist holster where his new weapon was housed, assuming that she would try to take it. He still couldn't believe that he hadn't had to fight over it at all. She came a little too close for his comfort this time, or the exact opposite maybe he thought, he had always liked her since the moment he met her. No one seemed to be paying attention and except for Mathew everyone was asleep, even if it was noon.

"What are you doing?" he whispered into her ear. She was quite startled by this and jumped slightly out of place. She slouched back again and looked at him and he returned her gaze; they both smiled slowly.

"What is your deal?" Jane said both laughing and whispering. Joseph laughed too, trying to keep his volume low as to not wake anyone up. He looked at her again still smiling. Neither of them could stop looking at each other.

"Why did you keep creeping in on me like that?" he said.

"Being straight forward isn't my forte, if you catch my meaning." Josephs heart skipped quite a few beats that moment, he let it all sink in as he realized _She's hitting on me, we're actually flirting!_ He couldn't believe it, She wanted Him, it was the perfect opportunity for a move.

But they had just met, what if it was too soon, how could two people fall in love so easily or quickly, it was incompre—

She locked her lips with his as she embraced him like he had done back near the ditch; a warm and gentle squeeze, and he had no idea what to do. He had never dated anyone in his life, never even kissed a girl before. How would he proceed, she seemed to be doing all the work as well as enjoying it. She clasped a clump of his hair from the back of his head and pulled him closer, Joe had to admit that he enjoyed it. She was beautiful, he thought, and she decided to do this, the situation stunned his logic. He embraced her back and moved his lips to synch with hers, eyes closed and all senses gone except for the feeling of touch, maybe smell, he could smell her hair, and it smelled clean which wasn't common in the wastes. Taste was always there, obviously he could taste her and Jane tasted like the sweet generic taste of the Sugar-Bombs that she had eaten earlier that day; maybe thirty minutes ago. They went on for what seemed like hours, but what was truly minutes, she pulled away, gasping for breath, and Joe simply slouched back doing the same breathing pattern as she. They looked back at each other, both seemed equally surprised as the other, and they continued to breathe heavily; she was smiling. As she smiled she leaned into him and rested her forearm across his breast, looking into his eyes she could see his surprise. She licked her lips and then Whispered:

"You," she took a quick breath, "are a good kisser." He couldn't begin to wonder what had just happened and then he came back down to earth.

"Y-You too." He breathed out the words like a simple release of air. They fell asleep there, in the middle of the day, Vehicle still moving down the rough Freeways that they had to go through.


	6. Predators

Chapter 6:

Predators

When Joseph awoke from his sleep he looked around to see that the sun was setting, they had slept for at least a few hours. The vehicle was still moving and Joe could feel the odd bump now and again. He went to sit up and noticed something pushing down on his chest; Jaden. His eyes widened as he wondered why she had done that, were all girls out of the vault this open when it came to these things? He couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of her soft breathing on his chest. Maybe he was a little too obvious about his feelings toward her, now she had done this. It's not like they had done anything drastic, he thought, just a few minutes of each other's warm embrace and the taste of each other's lips. He needed to get up though, it was almost time for supper and if anyone saw them like this there would be no end to it. He grabbed her shoulders and moved them gently over to her own seat, making sure not to make any noise. He sat down then as soon as Jane was in a proper sitting position, and he tried to snap Matt out of his trance on the road. "Hey, Hey man." He had his hand on Matts shoulder. Matt's shoulder jerked back and the car swerved a little.

"Holy hell man! Don't scare me like that!" he responded. Joseph held his chest.

"Well you scared the hell out of me too, shit."

"What time is it?" said Mathew. Martin stirred a bit in his sleep then and grumbled something in his own sleep talk.

"Seven, we need to eat."

"Fine," Mathew shrugged, "There's a truck stop over there, and we can make a fire."

* * *

Soon they were on the side of the street on an outcropping of pavement with a few busted down trees and an old building. They had spent a few minutes collecting wood from the trees and then made a fire on the pavement. The fire with stones surrounding the scorched wood that licked up orange flames into the orange red sky, heat blasted Joseph's face as he shielded himself with his arm. Jaden sat on the opposite side of the fire, smiling at him as her face was distorted by the heat waves of the flames. Emile and Martin were both eating Pork and beans out of the cans with spoons and Mathew was enjoying an old TV dinner, straight out of the package. Joseph had his own can of chicken noodle soup and he slurped it out of the can whilst trying not to burn himself on the hot can or the liquid within. He couldn't focus; Jaden was looking at him through a sinful smile and, although he really did like her, it was distracting; almost in a good way, good then bad, then good again, _damn my mind is a mess_. The Sky was dark now, black dotted with little glints of light; a few clouds spread across the sky. They chucked their trash into the tall grass along the road and started walking back to the Vehicle. Mathew spoke, "We should just stay here for the night, because that SUV ain't comfortable at all, ya' know?"

"I'm alright with that if you guys are, what ya' say?" Said Martin

"I'm fine with staying the night, there should be a room for… each of us." Said Jane, she winked at Joseph. He thought that he couldn't take much more of this before he caved and gave in to something unspeakable, given his beliefs.

"I think I only saw four rooms actually." Said Martin back.

"Not a problem, I can bunk with Joe."

"Fine by me." Spoke Jo- _What are you trying to pull you idiot!? What would your mother say?_ He thought to himself, but that didn't matter because his mother wasn't here right now, and Jaden was.

* * *

They made their way to the separate rooms in the old rickety building on the side of the road with their sleeping bags in hand. Apparently Emile packed them and decided not to mention them for some reason, typical. Matt slept behind the counter in the main building, Martin was in the Janitors closet, and Emile grudgingly lay down inside of the room conjoining the two bathrooms. Lastly Jaden and Joseph both set up their sleeping bags in the storage room in the back, it was cold and dark and the only light for them to see was a small crack in the back garage door. Damp floors were not a problem, the sleeping bags were huge and weather resistant, the problem was how hard the floors were and Joseph was quite uncomfortable. When he looked to the other side of the room where Jane was he saw a dark figure hovering over the sleeping bag. Fearing that it wasn't friendly he drew his pistol and turned on his Pip-boy light, illuminating the room, and Jane. She was stripped down to nearly nothing, and she cringed at the bright light, Joseph turned it off. "Are you alright?" he whispered, "I didn't mean to hurt you." He could feel pressure on him now, through the sleeping bag, lighter than he was and he definitely knew what it was. Even when nearly blind he could still make out her facial features with ease.

"You didn't hurt me," She whispered back, "You just scared me is all."

"What do you think you're doing…" his heart was racing faster than ever, his hands were on her back, her naked back. He stared at her and she stared back, she smiled that same smile.

"Life is short in the wasteland, let's make it count." She made her way into his sleeping bag and started getting comfortable. She faced him and kissed his cheek, feeling the skin of his face with her hands; rough hands, working hands.

"Look, I like you," Said Joe as he pushed away from her slightly, "But we need to take things slower, I've never even seen this much of a woman before!"

"Then we can take it slow if you want," that wasn't the response he had expected, "but let me lie with you for a night or two, we don't even need to do anything, just… hold me."

"Why are you so obsessed with me? I don't understand, from the moment that we had met I was struck dumb by you, but now you're falling over me." He breathed this question towards her, making sure no one else would hear it.

"Because it was the same way with me," she laughed, "I just know how to compose myself, instead of making it obvious." He looked down and immediately felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He could see almost all of her, covered only by a bra and her underwear. He looked back up to see her smiling.

"Do you have room enough in that coat for two." She asked, cocking her head. She felt her way to his coats zipper and pulled it down, the inside was soft, like a faux fur or something along those lines and she snuggled herself right in. It fit baggy on him so there was most certainly enough room for her. She wrapped her hands around his waist but not before taking his gasmask off of his neck so that she could get just that much closer to him, he returned her embrace, wrapping her in his jacket and allowing her to fit her body with his. She positioned her head just underneath his chin and let out a long breath.

"Goodnight." Joseph said.

"Goodnight." Yawned Jaden.

* * *

Joseph opened his eyes, he could hear something that much was sure. Jane still had her head under his chin and he feared for what might happen if someone walked in on them. He could hear a hissing sound with a growl along with it, the sound subsided for a moment and then a rattling sound started; Nightstalker. He moved to grab his pistol on his chest, noticing that he had taken it off before going to bed, it was to his left. He reached for his revolver and pulled it out of its holster, sliding his hands back into the sleeping bag and wrapping them around Jaden. He lightly shook her and her eyes fluttered open; they went into a sitting position still inside the bag.

"Don't freak out yet but I heard a Nightstalker—"

"Oh shit!" she whispered in a yelling tone, if that was at all possible, "What are we going to do?"

"I'm going to go send it to hell, you're going to stay here and—"

"Fuck. That." She said, she reached for her ten millimetre pistol and got out of the sleeping bag, he got up as well.

"Okay, I think he's outside of the room but we—" and the beast was on him. He hit the ground with a thud with the slithering coyote thing grasping his arm in its jowls. He thought that the coat would help protect him a bit, but the sleeve was up and the thing was biting through his vault jumpsuit. He screamed and writhed around on the ground trying to throw it off.

"Shoot it!" he said in a groveling voice, himself growling back at the predator. Jaden was pointing the gun she held in all different places toward the Nightstalker. Her hand shook.

"I can't, I might hit you!" she was right, it was doubtful that she could hit it like this, it was too dark. Joe took his other arm and reached down to his side, grabbing his knife. The fangs went down with more pressure than before.

"Arrr-gahhh!" he screamed in agony as the thing growled at him through a full mouth. He took his knife and plunged it into the beasts head; it whimpered once and then fell limp. It was dead.

"You did it!" said Jane, she got her flashlight and turned it on, resting it on a desk nearby; Joe could see the room now, but it didn't look normal. Everything looked twisted, distorted and wrong, blurry or spinning.

"Oh God no! The poison!" he pulled the nightstalker's snake head off of his arm and it revealed two puncture wounds covered in a black liquid. Joseph started to breath very heavily, "Get my medical bag, I don't have much time." Jane let out a gasp and went over to his bag, she brought it to him. He reached into it and pulled out a brown vial full of a strange liquid. He immediately poured some of the brown liquid into his wound; he cringed and groaned loudly and then swallowed the rest of the mixture. He sat it down breathing heavily still, and grabbed a stimpack, he stabbed that into his arm and lied down on the sleeping bag. There was more hissing.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" he shouted as he sat back up glancing around the room. There was a bang and smoke coming from Jaden's gun, a dead Nightstalker lay on the ground in front of her. A few moments later the other boys burst into the room, Pip-Boy lights on and guns ready. They saw the creatures and Joe first, and when they saw Jaden they turned away covering their eyes.

"Oh my God we are so sorry, we never knew you slept in your… you know." Stuttered Martin

"We have the situation handled, now get out!" Joseph said still grappling his right arm. The men left the room through the doorway that they had entered through and Joe was alone with Jaden. He looked up at her and she looked down at him, she ran over to him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Are you alright!?" she asked. Joseph let out a cough.

"Fucking dandy." He said laughing, "I never thought they would leave that easily."

"I guess they trust you enough."

"Yeah," he coughed again, "Sure." He cringed and then shook his head violently. "Man that anti-venom tastes like shit." He stuck out his tongue and tasted the air around him, it tasted like wet dog.

"Would they have left you with a half-naked woman otherwise?"

"They probably know what we are together, no point in hiding that, but just in case they don't know," he continued, "Don't mention it to anyone." She nodded her head and turned to the animal corpses on the floor. Their scaly hides had fur sticking out in between them, sickly would be a good word to describe them. Joseph went to stand up and then crumpled back down on his sleeping bag and Jane rushed over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He cringed again. "What time is it?"

"Check your wrist thing you idiot." He looked at his wrist and then back at Jane.

"Seven o'clock; damn we didn't get much sleep."

"Let's get dressed and tell them what happened" said Jane, still standing in her underwear with a gun in her hand. Joe shrugged her off and looked around the room for his medical bag, he was obviously still delirious. He could see a bit better than he could before, but the affects were still there. He reached into his satchel and brought out a roll of gauze, he then unravelled it and wrapped it tightly around his arm, biting it off with his teeth. Jane looked in amazement at his swiftness with a bandage as he knotted it off.

"Without the… personal info' I hope?" he said.

"I'm not stupid, just crazy."

* * *

The other men were sitting in the middle of the store, fully dressed and car parked outside with all of their belongings. The sun was rising on the eastern horizon out of their direct field of vision. Joseph and Jaden walked into the room, fully dressed as well and they went to sit down as well. The men looked awkwardly toward them and glanced around the room.

"Two Night-stalkers, they're dead now." Joseph looked down at his wrapped arm and pulled his sleeve down over it. "I'm fine, don't ask or anything."

Martin had seen this act before, whenever Joseph was embarrassed or trying to hide something he always acted distant and enclosed in a shield of self-pity. Emile however did not know this. Joe turned his head away and let his hair fall to the side.

"Whatever you say captain-awkward, are we going soon Matt?" asked Emile.

"Soon, let's have something to eat first." Everyone searched the remains of the store and found some old food to eat for a quick breakfast, no need to waste the food they already had stockpiled. The whole time they were eating by the derelict roadside Jane was leaning close to Joseph. Martin had known Joe since they were kids, he was only a few days older than Joe and he knew that something was wrong. At a time like this there was no time for anything to be wrong. Jane had been acting strange around him recently, maybe that's what he was hiding, maybe they were doing something, planning something. He figured he was just being paranoid and went on eating a loaf of bread.

* * *

"What in the fuck is going on!?" Amos hollered throughout the old crumbled buildings. They were surrounded by large skyscrapers, toppled over, rubble everywhere and they were in serious danger. Plasma and lasers, bullets and dust flew through the air and Amos grasped his heart with his hand where a bullet had hit his vest; he held his monstrous pistol with one hand, it waivered in his grip. He sat behind a large broken wall as his friends shot out at the offenders. The men and women shooting at them were of numerous lots and they wore many different sets of attire, but one thing was certain: they were not at all friendly.

Thaddeus sprinted forward toward cover and as he slid behind the rubble he reached to his belt. As soon as his foot hit the side of the concrete he used his momentum to hurdle a grenade at the group. One man was caught in the blast and died instantly. In the confusion Amos' group had gained the upper hand in the fight. Solomon had hit a woman in the head with his plasma rounds and all that remained was her skull, he cringed.

Bullets continued ringing out of the dust and smoke so Amos figured it was time he joined in. He gathered himself and grasped his pistol with both hands, his tired, torn hands. As he came around the corner of the wall he saw a man right in his sights, he was nearly naked and an easy kill shot. When he pulled the trigger it was the only noise in the vicinity, it was certainly the loudest and it left a hole of gigantic proportions in the man's chest; blood was everywhere. The man's body fell to the ground with a thud and Amos turned to see another man, this time in formal attire with an assault rifle. He tapped a button on his Pip-boy and in a second in everyone else's time the man had no head, just a splatter of blood and flesh all over. The dust settled and they all went in with weapons drawn. Daniel almost fired on James when his stealth boy wore off and he hovered over a woman's body with his knives sunk into her chest. James put away his knives and walked over to Daniel, he grabbed his friends gun by the barrel and forcibly lowered it.

"You'll kill someone Mr. Jumpy Mc-Leg-Hole." Said James as he pointed to Daniel's left leg, a bloody bandage surrounding a large part of it.

"Fuck you squint!" replied an angry Daniel jutting out his rifle at James. James raised his full face visor and looked at him through, as he said, squinted eyes.

"What the fuck did you just say?! You bastard I thought we was friends man! That mean nothin' to you? Huh!"

"Shut the fuck up both of you!" shouted a woman with an assault rifle strapped across her chest. She wore a long black hooded sweatshirt and tight black jeans. Her white face stood out against her red-brown hair caught in a ponytail. "And you Danny!" she pointed at Daniel, "Quit it with the fucken' racism before I cut your balls off, I'll have none of it!" Samantha was easy to anger and when she did she made sure to take charge.

"Sorry bout' that James," spoke Daniel, embarrassed, "Heat of the moment."

"It's ok man," sighed James, he put his hand on Daniel's shoulder, "C'mon lets go see what's up." He patted Daniel on the back and they walked over to the group. The men hovered over a half dead man who was choking on his own blood. Amos, who had no patience left, had the man grasped by his collar.

"Last time and we might help ya'. Now… Who. Sent. You?!" The man had a look of terror on his bloodied face and blood ran down to and past his moustache. Amos was not being gentle. The man finally caved.

"J… Ju…" he had a look of puzzlement and then sudden enlightenment on his face, "Joseph was the man's name, yeah Ju… Joseph, I mean." Amos just continued staring at him and then let him go. He stood up and looked at the man with his gun still quivering in his hands.

"I don't appreciate jokes…" he said as he raised his weapon and ended the man's life in a bloody mess. Solomon got some on his shoe. Amos looked at the ground and began breathing heavily. "No…" he whispered "No there has to be an explanation…" Solomon went over to him.

"It couldn't be our Joseph, that just couldn't—" Amos grabbed Solomon's collar now to, with blood covered hands.

"That's just it!" he screamed, "There is no explanation, no other fucken' Joseph knows us!" he had a look of anger in his eyes covering the pain that hid behind them. Solomon wrestled himself from his grip and fell backwards.

"What are you going to do? You can't just kill him!" said Thaddeus.

"And why the Hell not huh!?" replied Amos, "I'm getting them on the horn right now."

"But it doesn't make any sense." Said Sammy, "We need to think first."

"Fuck off new chick, I don't trust you either." Spouted Amos.

* * *

Mathew's Pip-boy made the sound again, someone was calling them. He answered and everyone grouped around. "Hey Amos how are—"

"_Fuck you, where is Joseph!_"

"Whoa, whoa calm down; what the hell?" defended Matt, "He's right here." Joe walked over closer to the Pip-boy.

"I'm right here Amos what's wrong?"

"_Wha—What's wrong is that you should fucken' know what's wrong, you murdering fucker_!" Shouted Amos so loud that the microphone vibrated wildly. "_I've known you for so long and I would have never thought that you would—_"

"Wait, Amos calm the heck down for a second okay." Interrupted Mathew.

"_I will not stay calm you tin fuck! Joseph tried to have us all killed!_"

Joseph looked taken aback for a moment and he had a severely hurt expression plastered on his face.

"What are you talking about man?" said Joseph.

"_Listen to me guys, he hired a bunch of thugs to get us all killed, I don't know why but this headless fuck here just confirmed it! Don't listen to a fucking thing he says!_" Amos caught his breath for a sec and continued "_This guy said that a guy named Joseph hired him to kill us, and they probably killed mike and tony too._" Emile straightened. "_I'll give you guys time to decide what to do with him but I would kill him right now if I were you._" Joseph looked like he was going to cry. "_If the next time I see you guys he is still alive I will kill ALL of you! Fucken out!_" he hung up.

Everyone slowly turned to Joe with concerned looks on their faces. Tears ran down Joseph's face and he fell on his rump onto the concrete. "What—what is going on…?" he said. Emile had his gun pointed at Joe's head and his trigger finger was shaking.

"Emile! Put the gun down." Said Matt, Emile just looked at him with a face as red as newly spilled blood.

"He got them killed man, Mike and… and… Anthony they're…." he wiped some tears from the side of his face with his sleeve and looked back up.

"He didn't do it." everyone turned to martin except for Emile. "That's not the secret he's hiding, but he was hiding something."

"How do you know that!?" said Emile, he pointed the gun closer to his head.

"How he acts, I've known him forever and I can read his body language like a book, he's hiding something," He continued, "Jane has something to do with it, that much I know."

Jaden blushed and turned her head away. Joseph looked at her and they both blushed then. She covered her mouth trying not to panic.

"I… I'll tell you just… just get this gun outta' my face, please!" Emile obliged.

"Tell us this secret." Emile said with arms crossed looking at Jaden.

"If it means saving your life," said Jane, "then just tell them." His breathing began to slow and he spoke.


	7. Killer Instinct

Chapter 7:

Killer Instinct

"So that's it, I don't know anything about their deaths." Said Joseph, Jaden was still blushing like a beet. "I promise."

"Okay, I believe you." Emile had cooled down by now. "Still didn't see that coming though," he looked at Jaden, "You were always quick on the draw."

"Shut your mouth, you can't judge."

"Actually," said Emile, "I can. You just met him!" he made a two armed gesture towards Joe.

"Who cares," Matt spoke, "So what if they're boning each other." Jaden's face kept getting redder; Joseph stood up and pointed at Mathew.

"We are not 'Boning' each other, ok." said Joseph, "We just like each other." Martin stood up from his crouching position.

"It doesn't matter any to me. If they like each other then live and let live." Martin walked over to Joseph and whispered in his ear, "Try to be smoother next time. Kay'?" Joe just laughed and shrugged him off. Jaden went over and stood beside her admirer.

"Why do you care if we're together Meel'? It shouldn't matter to you." She said. Emile didn't like this one bit.

"I've known you forever, and I know that you don't 'Love' people just like that." She walked over and gave him a quick right hook to the jaw; he fell to the floor faster than a sack of bricks. He landed on his side and expressed his feelings while holding his jaw.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, "You always were a crazy bitch."

"Better than a dumb bastard." She quickly replied. Joseph backed up a bit.

"What did he mean by that?" Joe asked.

"Nothing!" she replied quickly. Joseph took another step back; maybe he had hit a nerve. Regardless, Joseph did not want to make her anymore mad than she was naturally. Jaden looked back at Joe and realized she may have been overreacting. "I'm sorry; it's a touchy subject…"

"Some other time perhaps?" he whispered back to her softly. She replied the same.

"Yeah."

Mathew entered the conversation, "The only thing that really bothered me, was how PISSED Amos was… he can usual keep his cool." Mathew rubbed his chin in thought. "Something's up, and I don't just mean the fuckin' raggedy-ass hit men sent by god-knows-who."

"We should get back on the road, maybe set up fortifications in a better place in the city up ahead." Emile suggested.

"Sounds like a plan actually. Okay!" Mathew raised his voice as he got to his feet with his armor clattering against itself, "We're heading out; you love birds get in back with Martin and Emile you get in front."

Joseph shook his head, "Just shut up." What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

A lot of the ride Jane spent in Joseph's arms and he didn't seem to notice or care all that much since his mind was elsewhere. He remembered how he had broken down when Amos had threatened him and called him a murderer; was he really that sensitive? He had killed people and hardly felt a thing, but now that his security among his most trusted friends was compromised he was too weak to react. And this girl; could he really trust her? He was told not to trust anyone outside the vault and to keep them at arm's length, but now she was much closer than that. The scenery around them as they drove down the barren freeway was all the same, rolling plains of yellow grass dotted with rubble and old cars. After another hour of traveling they arrived in another town that was bigger than the last one which meant they had a better chance at finding salvage, but also ran a higher risk of attacks from bandits and raiders. As Mathew turned off of the main street of the city he noticed a house that looked heavily fortified but equally as deserted. Hoping that they could avoid any traps set by previous or current owners of the building. Rocks were kicked up behind the tires of the SUV as they pulled into the rough driveway. Everyone exited their respective doors and clambered down onto the unpaved parking spot with weapons drawn. Martin's hands were surprisingly steady with the 10mm submachine gun in his grip. Jaden stuck closely behind Joe, she was clingy like that so he supposed. Joseph wrapped his cold fingers around the grip of his Heckler & Koch as he prepared for the unexpected to take place. The barrel of his rifle was cold to his touch, very cold as the crisp air bit at everything it touched; a sign of the winter soon approaching. Mathew, Laser rifle in hand, motioned silently for Martin and Joe to take point at the front door to the seemingly abandoned building which was boarded up professionally. Joseph couldn't tell why anyone would want to abandon such a reliable looking shelter, but there was always a reason, right. He aimed down the sights of his G36 and calmed his breathing as Martin turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open revealing the dark entry room. From behind himself, Joseph could hear the chain link fence rattling metal against metal as Emile walked up the path to the door. Joseph reached into his small messenger's bag and took out a small flashlight with a rail attachment. He hooked it onto the barrel of his rifle and turned it on; the room illuminated almost completely. He breathed a sigh of relief as the room seemed mostly untouched and "Normal" if such a thing existed anymore. Vases had fallen off of the wall tables and shelves and cracked on the ground, how long ago could be anyone's guess. Joe took his first steps inside of the house and the morning light was replaced with the claustrophobia of the dusty old shelter. Martin and Mathew followed after him and the three of them slowly spread around the house in search of what they hoped not to find: residents. Joseph was on edge, especially since everyone had split up now, but he knew what to do if someone attacked him. He turned off into a very dark room, darker than the entry way even, and noticed what appeared to be a body on the ground. The room looked like a living area, ironic. Joseph decided it was best to inspect before he got everyone else to crowd in this small room in curiosity. He walked ever quietly over to the dead man's body and saw that he was emaciated to the point that ribs nearly stuck out his sides. As he approached however he noticed his Geiger counter picking up small amounts of radiation; that was when the man's head moved to look at Joe. An eye hung out of its socket and the Ghoul got to its feet with lightning speed; Joe had hardly enough time to react. The Ghoul screeched at him as it swung out with its outstretched arm. He fell back onto his rump and aimed up, with a single shot a giant hole was left in the forehead of the feral ghoul; its flesh was obviously rotted to the point that a lone shot would be enough to blow off an entire limb. The ghoul took one more step forward and then fell to the side, finally dead. Martin burst into the room now with his SMG drawn.

"What in the hell was that?" his question was answered when he looked down at the decayed body, "Shit…"

Emile entered as well, "Must have been the previous owner; a ghoul that eventually turned feral… damned shame."

"We'd better look around the rest of the house to make sure we're safe to stay here." Joseph suggested. Emile put his rifle up against his shoulder.

"Okay, I'll go get the other two and we'll all sweep the house." He said. Emile walked out of the room and went for the front door. Martin just continued to stare at the body of the ghoul as a pool of blood began to form around its now hollow cranium; a small pool however as ghouls likely had mutated arteries and messed up circulatory systems in general. Joe got to his feet and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Maybe you need a smoke, you haven't had a smoke in a while." Suggested Daniel to Amos who was still on edge from the last conversation with his friends.

"Yeah… yeah you're right." He reached into his pocket and produced a single cigarette, "Hey, do you want one Thad?" he asked.

"Please." Thaddeus didn't get edgy when he hadn't had a smoke instead he just enjoyed the relaxing feeling; he had a strong will to avoid addiction on such a degree as Amos'.

"Here." Amos tossed one of his self-rolled smokes at the larger man and he caught it without effort. Amos took out his lighter and lit his smoke, in a single drag a quarter of it was already gone. He tossed the lighter to Thaddeus and he lit up as well. Solomon was still bitter about how Amos treated him back in the more ruined parts of the city. They had been traveling more north than the other groups, and Amos figured that the city they were in was actually Drumheller on account of the valleys. They were on their way back to their vehicle and Daniel still found it painful to walk.

"Why don't you suck it up and use a stimpack, you haven't used one since you was first shot?" James showed his concern for poor Daniel.

"That's for pussies, I don't need another."

"Whatever."

"Hey, where does the map say to go next." Asked Samantha. Amos turned and exhaled some smoke near her face which she swatted away without hesitation.

"I'm thinking from this here map that we're going to Lloydminster from here." He exhaled again.

"Amos, about Joseph…" hesitated Thaddeus.

"I know what you're going to say, and yes, I know I over reacted; Joseph would never do that." Thaddeus smiled back at Amos.

"Good to hear, but maybe you should call them back."

"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine; maybe later, 'kay."

* * *

"The rest of the house looks deserted!" shouted Jaden as if it wouldn't already echo through these hollow halls. Joseph and Martin had thrown the body of the ghoul out into the lawn on a nearby property earlier that day, and Joseph was amazed at how green the grass was. Joseph and Martin now sat on an old ruined couch in the living room and a towel lay on the floor where the blood was.

"Have you ever been outside of the vault during winter?" asked Joseph. Martin shook his head no.

"I've heard that it's unbearably cold and that it's better to just stay inside."

"Same." They sat there for a minute more before a bulb lit up in Joe's head, "We need a source of heat."

"Yeah, you're right; we do…" he rubbed his stubbly chin and looked up at the ceiling.

"We have the generator, but we need to use the power for heat somehow…" Joseph continued to stare off into space with his friend.

"Maybe we could find a portable heater!"

"Yeah, we could go looking around town." Agreed Joseph. Emile walked in and looked at them as they exchanged excited glances.

"What?"

"Wanna' go exploring?" Joseph asked.

* * *

The city looked absolutely deserted, with not a single living thing in sight and they hoped it would stay that way so they would not have to fight for supplies. A super-duper mart was just down the way from their shelter so they took an opportunity they couldn't pass up. Green grass grew up from cracks in the pavement and strange flowers propagated in places as well. The cold autumn air nipped at Joe's ears so he put his hood up to avoid the discomfort of it. Both Martin and Emile put on tuques to shield themselves from the same cold. Only in this cold of air could Joseph notice just how much metal was on his person and his fingers felt at times like they were stuck to his rifle. When they arrived in the parking lot of the mart it was very apparent that this was a store of a much smaller scale, but still big enough to be considered a super store of sorts. Emile grabbed a tipped over blue shopping cart from the asphalt and rolled it noisily toward the entrance of the store with them. Joseph detached his flash light from the rail of his rifle, figuring it would be better to use his Pip-Boy light instead. After the scene at the last super-duper mart they were on guard for anything suspicious in the darkness of the giant room. It appeared that this store had been ransacked more thoroughly than the previous one as whole aisles had been tipped over and cans were scattered across the floor.

"Okay, this is a super-duper mart so we should be able to find a heater somewhere, cuz' they have everything." Joseph turned his Pip-Boy light on and walked forward into the store following the signs to the electronics department. They avoided kicking aside cans to make room in fear that they would be heard by something, whatever could be in here. The wind blew through cracks in the walls of the gigantic store and made whistling noises that were very unnerving to the three scavengers. The electronics area had two checkout counters of its own and five or so aisles in total. After a minute of searching, Martin found what appeared to be a miniature portable heater, with the same plug as their generator luckily. But Martin made a small mistake…

"HEY GUYS! Look what I found!" he shouted as his voice echoed throughout the store. Joseph heard growling, lots of growling and he put his palm to his face in frustration.

"Run!" he said. The three men dared not look behind themselves to see what was giving chase, but from their strangely human growls Joseph had a guess. Martin burst out into the sunlight with the heater still in his hands and set it down as he reached for his weapon. Joseph whipped around and a ghoul knocked him to the ground. The wind was taken right out of him as he hit the ground with a thud. The ghoul looked up and howled as a group of at least six ghouls came out of the doors as well. Joe unloaded part of his clip into the post-human's chest as he crawled backwards on his back to avoid the next ghoul. The ghoul's head was taken off by Emile's AK luckily. Martin ran at the ghouls and hit one in the head with the barrel of his SMG while he shot another with nearly a full magazine of ammo. The ghoul he had hit grabbed his arm and screamed in his face with absolutely rancid breath; Martin recoiled but shook him off so he could place another few bullets in his skull. Emile and Joseph dispatched the three other ghouls with the rest of their clip and Joe tried to get to his feet but slipped back on the blood, at least he did not fall directly in the blood. The three of them all sat down and bent over to catch their breaths. After a minute of silence Martin grabbed the heater and motioned toward the road with his head.

"We going?" he asked. Joseph could barely nod his head yes; now he knew he was out of shape. None the less they got back onto their feet and made their way back to the house.

* * *

"That will help. The winters up here are pretty unforgiving." Mathew said as he positioned more boards on the windows of the building they would be staying in. Martin placed the heater in the back of their vehicle and went inside the house with Emile. Joe walked up to Matt and leaned against the wall.

"How long will we be staying here do you think?" he asked. Mathew ceased his rackety hammering on the wooden boards and turned to the smaller man; he brushed his own hair to the side.

"I don't know, a few days at the most."

"Okay, that's all I wanted to know." Joseph said. Mathew shrugged and watched as Joe went inside the house; he was greeted by Emile who ushered him into a nearby room.

"Over here." He said. Joseph looked around and saw no reason not to follow, so he entered the room and Emile closed the door behind him.

"Hey, Emile what's up-?" he was cut off as he turned around and noticed a gun pointed at his face. He said nothing instead he let his rifle slide to his side.

"I just want to talk about Jaden…" he said softly so no other would hear.

"… Okay…"

"She got caught up in the wrong relationship once already; luckily me and my Pa stopped her before they could use her. So I don't trust no one with her you understand me?" Joseph could not speak, he instead nodded slowly and let Emile continue with his explanation, "We're from Edmonton, you know that, but her parents were killed by raiders so my Pa took her in like one of his own, you see where this is going?"

"Yeah…"

"Good. Well we found her hanging around some unsavory types one day and after a week or so of her acting strange we knew something was up, so me and Pa went to talk to these fellas… except these guys didn't like to talk much." He pressed the gun against Joe's head and Joseph almost jumped a little, "We fought and killed all of them until only one was left, he told us that they were slavers and that they were trying to trick her into going with them, but he swore to me time after time that they didn't do anything to her and begged for his life like a squabbling rad-roach caught in a minefield."

"What… what happened to him?"

"I killed him anyways, I don't forgive easy…" He said menacingly. Joseph could feel beads of sweat dripping off of his face, "Moral of the story is: if you hurt her, I'll turn your head into a Mother fuckin' splatter on the wall." Joseph was still shaken by the initial surprise of a gun being pointed at his head, and could still hardly move even after he had put his weapon away. Emile walked out of the room and left Joseph there to think about what he had said. Maybe he had gotten into the wrong relationship himself.


	8. Maybe

After the talk he had with Emile, Joseph felt uneasy, but that didn't stop him from following when Jaden had called his name from the adjacent room. The room had a lot of brown in it, likely from the years of sitting around and rotting, and sparse amounts of light shown through the blinds on the window. He sat down on the couch beside her and she wrapped her arms around him. Joseph felt as if he should have felt awkward, but it felt right to him. He just hoped that she wouldn't try anything tonight.

"Emile was threatening you wasn't he?" she asked suddenly. Joseph looked surprised that she would have guessed right so easily.

"Y-Yeah… how did you know?"

"It's part of who he is; he's protective. Don't worry; as long as I say not to hurt you he won't even harm a single hair on your head." She smiled and kissed him on the lips. Joseph kissed back without really thinking about it – he just did.

"Thanks, I guess." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Jaden smiled even wider and giggled a bit.

"You act so strange sometimes." She pointed out. He nodded and slouched back.

"Tell me about it…"

They lied on that couch together for at least an hour before Martin came into the room and leaned against the entry arch. "Ahem!"

"Oh, how long have you been there?" asked Joseph.

"Long enough, now come with me." He told him and walked out of the front door without an explanation. Joseph looked at Jaden as she climbed up his chest and nestled in his arms.

"You can go," she said, "it's okay." He nodded and got up out of his seat, zipping up his coat as he exited through the front door. He had his rifle and pistols on him, but again decided it was easier to leave his .308 hunting rifle in the building.

Martin was waiting for him outside on the glistening green grass with an SMG in his hands that was different from his old one. It was bigger and had a greener tint to it. "Hey, have you seen my new 12.7mm yet?" he held his gun out proudly.

"No, where did you get it?"

"The safe upstairs next to the skeleton of some poor bastard." He shrugged, "The dead have no use for their worldly items." Martin had a smug look on his face.

"That might be true, but you seem to be getting a lot of your favorite things off of the dead." Joseph tightened the strap on his gun and motioned to the road, "Where are we going?" he asked.

"The Gas Station is just up the road so I figured we could go check it out." He pointed west down the road in the same direction as the super-duper mart.

"Okay, I need to talk to you anyways." The two friends began walking down the cracked pavement of the two hundred year old black-top. Martin kicked a rock down the way and looked to Joseph.

"Talk about what?" he asked. Joseph sighed and shrugged lightly.

"Emile threatened to kill me if I upset Jaden…" perhaps not the best delivery for the circumstances, but he already said it.

"What!?" Martin asked astounded to hear such a thing.

"With a gun pointed at my head he explained how she had already had a tough life and that he didn't trust anyone with her." Joseph looked noticeably depressed and Martin looked less than impressed at the news.

"I thought you two got along? I thought he trusted you!"

"I thought Emile DID trust me, but normal trust isn't good enough for this apparently." Joseph rubbed his forehead and groaned in frustration.

"The biggest problem with this other than the fact that he was threatening to kill you, is that he EXPECTS you to betray her!" Joseph noticed that Martin was getting quite livid at the story so he grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't make a big deal out of this, okay?" he put on his saddest looking face and hoped that Martin would see reason.

"… Fine… but you have to prove him wrong."

"Deal." Joseph said.

* * *

The gas station was just as old in appearance as any other building in this neighborhood. The sign with the name of the gas station had fallen over who knows how long ago and pieces of it were scattered all over the road. Joseph stepped over the ruined sign and continued to the station's doors with Martin following right behind him. It was pitch black inside and Joseph turned on his pip-boy light to cut through the darkness.

"Let's look around for food or something." Joseph said.

"No duh, it IS a convenience store."

"Gas Station actually, a convenience store secondly." He pointed out as he pushed the glass doors open.

"Don't be a smart ass; no one likes a smart ass." The dark of the store whirled around them as they explored the old counters and shelves, looking for sustenance. Their search led them high and low throughout the ancient building, and by the end they had half a cart full of goods. Joseph noticed his mouth beginning to water as he gazed intensely down at a can of pork and beans.

"This should be good, right?" He asked Martin.

"Oh yeah, this will last us for a bit; plus we have the food back at the car." Joseph was so caught up adventuring around that he had completely forgotten that with the amount of food they already had, they could barely fit this food in the vehicle.

"Whatever, we'd better get going back." Joseph said as he pointed at the door with his thumb. They pushed the cart out of the door and started back down the road.

"I'm just not sure if I can look at Emile the same way ever again." Martin grumbled as he rested his elbows on the handle of his shopping cart.

"He gets intense sometimes. Just let it fly, I won't do anything to piss him off." Joseph wished he could actually mean that, but Emile was a volatile sort and anything could throw him into a rage. Joseph liked Jaden enough not to hurt her though, so he saw no way for Emile to become upset at him again.

"Okay, but if he points a gun at you again I'll shoot his goddamned hand off." Martin said strongly. Joseph scoffed.

"I suppose that's fair… sort of."

The city was noticeably small now that Joseph had time to really pay proper attention to his surroundings. The city was big enough that the opposite side of it was well over the horizon, but there was not a tall building in sight. Very few of the buildings in the city had rubble on them, in them or around them and everything seemed to be in very good condition considering its age.

"Doesn't matter if it's fair; because it's right – I'm not gonna let him kill you because you breathe wrong."

"Thanks, man." Joseph said back sincerely.

Martin smiled. "What in the hell are friends for?"

* * *

When they returned to their shelter they loaded the SUV back up with food and took a small amount into the house with them, for everyone to eat that night. When Joseph stepped in the house he could hear Emile and Jaden arguing in one of the rooms upstairs. Mathew was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase eyeing a pack of cigarettes in his hand.

"I never understood why Amos took up this shit…" he mumbled to himself as he threw it against the wall. The tobacco filled tubes fell to the floor as they tumbled out of their box.

Joseph ignored his random comment and looked up, to the sound, "What are they arguing about?" he asked.

Mathew turned and shrugged, he must have already known Joseph was there, "No clue, probably you though." He slouched back against the steps and supported the back of his head with his hands. Joseph could hear their yelling back and forth and it seemed to be getting louder.

"Holy… they sure are going at it." He said.

Mathew grumbled lowly under his breath, "That's what she said."

Joseph laughed a bit and turned around to see Martin with his arms crossed in disappointment. Martin approached the stairs and said: "Now he's taking it out on her."

"Or the other way around." Argued Mathew with a grin on his face. Joseph breathed upward with his lower lip jutting out and blew his bangs out of the way of his vision. "Maybe I should go up there…"

"That is a stupid idea; stop talking." Said Mathew plain and simple.

"I'll talk if I damn well please." He responded. Mathew stood up and poked Joseph in the chest.

"Trust me when I say: you do not want to be involved in whatever is going on up there." Just on time, the door to the room in which the argument was taking place opened. Jaden calmly made her way down the stairs and Emile followed soon after with a less than impressed look plastered on his face. The two of them went their separate ways throughout the house as if nothing had happened between them. The three vault dwellers stood in the same place awkwardly as they watched the previously arguing pair walk past them.

"I… I'm not sure I understand what just happened." Said Martin softly.

"Maybe you should go talk to her?" suggested Mathew.

"I thought you said that was a stupid idea?" argued Joseph.

"Yeah, when the two of them are together." He pointed toward the living room, where Jaden had gone, "But she's alone now." Joseph stood still as his friends looked at him suggestively.

"Well… get going." Rushed Martin with his hands motioned at the hallway.

"Argh… fine." Joseph groaned as he walked down the hall to the second family room in the large house. His steps creaked on the floorboards below his heels, but he had gotten used to it in such a rotted out house as this. He turned through an archway into the living space and saw Jaden sitting on the couch, by herself. He approached her cautiously and hoped that he wouldn't set off any emotional time bombs that might be ticking.

"Hey, are you okay?" he said awkwardly, awkwardly like he did in most of their conversations together. She used her hand to call him over so he sat down on the cushion next to her. She scooted herself over to his cushion and snuggled beside him.

"I'm fine. Emile and I just had a chat."

"What kind of a chat?" Joseph said softly, so no one else could hear them.

"It was nothing, don't worry about it." She assured him. He was far from feeling assured of anything other than the fact that they were hiding something.

"I can't help it, I want to know."

"Maybe I'll tell you later, okay?" she gave him a puppy-dog face and looked into Joseph's eyes. He giggled a little and turned away.

"I guess…" he sighed. She reached up and kissed him. He tried to flinch away but she was very insisting. He never thought that being with the woman you wanted was so hard when it seemed like she wanted you more. She released his lips and nuzzled her head deep in his thick coat.

* * *

The next day everyone gathered around the old marble island detached from the counters in the kitchen. They couldn't use the table because it seemed as if it had split in half long before they arrived. Century old breakfast cereal was on the menu – and they were even glad to get that. Martin munched loudly on some sugar bombs while everyone else got their own meal.

"I wish I had a glass of Brahmin milk." He said with his face stuffed full of cereal. Joseph grabbed a seat for himself and then one for Jaden as they sat around the counter; Emile looked less than impressed.

"I wish I had one too, but that's not gonna happen." Joseph said.

"Once we get to Ronto we can have a herd of Brahmin; just gotta get the caps." Emile said lazily. Joseph could guess that he didn't get much sleep.

"If we find a working refrigerator then we can chill those Nuka-Colas we have." Joseph pointed behind himself with his thumb in the direction of the vehicle. Emile grunted.

"That won't happen for a while either; but I think Ronto has a working power station." He began eating his cereal as well.

"Emile and Joseph," said Mathew suddenly, the pair looked up from their breakfast, "You two are going to the wrecked Car Dealership to see if you can find any better parts for the car; Emile, you know what to look for." Emile and Joseph exchanged tense glances and then Joseph turned to Martin, who looked just as concerned, if not more. "I'm going with Jane and Marty to search around town for anything else."

"Where is the dealership?" asked Joseph.

"Due south from here, you can't miss it." Matt replied. Emile stood up from his meal and looked at Joseph.

"I guess we'd better get going." He said as he grabbed his rifle and pistol off of the counter behind him.

"Yeah… let's go…" Joseph mumbled nervously.

* * *

The sun wasn't as intense as the day before; a bit of proof that it wasn't August anymore. The early September winds were nippy even this far south of Calgary. Winter was coming, and Joseph knew it would not be a forgiving season.

Emile and Joseph put their shoes to the pavement as they made their way farther south on their way to the abandoned car dealership. The black tar covered cement of the streets was cracked like a broken mirror where the bomb debris had landed after being hurled through the air from who knows how far away. No bombs had seemed to have made an impact on this town, but there was still a high concentration of ghouls (Joseph heard them as he tried to sleep the night before – groaning and snarling at one another). Not just that, but when Joseph set his Geiger counter to a higher range sensor mode, he could hear the clicking of something maybe a kilometre away from where they were.

A half-hour of walking was what it took to find the car lot, and they were surprised to see how many cars present were actually untouched by nature and man since the bombs had fallen and the missiles had hit. The cars were in remarkably good shape and Emile supposed that most of them were salvageable. The pair opened the broken glass doors to the dealership building and stepped inside.

"Can we talk fer' a second?" asked Emile.

"I know what nearly happened last time you wanted to talk." Laughed Joseph, "How do I know I can trust you?" Joseph turned away for a moment to go look for SUV parts, but heard the sound of clacking and clanking behind him. Emile had thrown all of his weapons to the ground.

"We good?" he asked with his hands spread to his sides. Joseph swung his G36 to his back by way of the strap across his chest, and he walked over to Emile.

"What did you want to talk about?" Joseph asked with a stern look on his face. Emile let his hands fall to his sides and he breathed easy again.

"I was almost certain you would take the chance to shoot me." He said.

Joseph looked absolutely appalled, "You think I'm the kind of man who just shoots his friends?"

"Survival of the fittest." He shrugged back. Joseph shook his head. "Anyways, I know you're wonderin' what Jane and me were talkin' bout."

"Yeah, so?" Joseph said sarcastically.

"Don't play coy with me; you want to know." He did not smile and joke like he usually would, he was serious.

"Okay – I'll play ball – maybe I do want to know."

"I'll get straight to the point then." He sat down on the ground and pushed his guns away. Joseph sat down as well. "Haven't you wondered why she just jumped on ya' like a kangaroo so quickly?"

"What in Sam hell is a "Kangaroo"?" Joseph asked. Emile put his palm to his face.

"Never mind. Seriously though, have you not yet thought about that?" it was true, he had. However he tried to forget about it and instead enjoy her company.

"Yeah. Are you saying you know why?"

"Oh, yes I do." Emile said, again not smiling. Emile went silent, like he was contemplating something.

"Well…?" Joseph tempted.

"She… Jaden had a brother once." He said carefully choosing his words, "I think his name was… Jack… or was it John? Anyways, she was really close to her brother." He pressed his hands against his cheeks and exhaled, like he was extremely stressed. "When the raiders killed her family… she was heartbroken and I never thought I would ever see her the same way she used to be."

"Get to the point." Said an angered Joseph – he did not know why but he was upset about something. Probably that he expected Emile to point his gun at his head again.

"He was butchered in front of her eyes you know… she was only twelve." He seemed to be getting emotional himself, "If my Pa and the neighbors hadn't shown up… oh god, what they would have done to her."

"Look, that is sad and all – it really is – but I'm still not seeing a point." Said Joseph, he did not want to hear about Jaden's tragic past – it only made him feel guilty that he could not do anything to truly comfort her.

"She told me something last night when we were arguing; she just blurted it out, probably by accident." Emile breathed in and his lip trembled as he remembered the grisly scene on that day all those years ago.

"And?"

"She said… She said that you reminded her of… of her brother." Joseph had not expected that, but he felt like he should have been expecting it all along.

He opened his mouth and tried to say his question, but it took longer for his tongue to respond, "What was he like?"

Emile took no time to respond, like he had a lot to say, "He was kind, and generous. He had brown hair a lot like yours. He never let anyone hurt another without reason." He sighed. "I could go on forever, but we have work to do."

"Agreed." Said Joseph. The both of them stood up and Emile grabbed his weapons.

"I swear, I've never seen her this happy in years. You better not hurt her." He threatened with a pointing finger.

"I have no intention to do that." Joseph answered back. Emile put his arm down and sighed again.

"I wasn't supposed to tell ya' that… ya' know that?"

"I assumed as much."

"Well," Emile scoffed lightly and let his rifle rest in his hands, "Let's get ta' findin' these parts." He said.

They walked towards the garage and Emile began to look around for a way though the giant sheet metal door. Joseph interrupted, "Can we head a bit further south after we're done here?" he said as he looked down at his Pip-boy.

"I guess, why?"

"I think I may have found the source of this town's ghouls."


	9. A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

"Lemme' see that?" Emile said as he grabbed Joseph's left arm and thrust it towards him. He peered down at the Pip-boy and saw the radiation signatures he had marked on the map.

"These readings are equivalent to a three hundred Kiloton nuclear bomb; when it's leaking." Joseph explained, "One of the bombs must have not exploded when it hit and something must have ruptured it to release all the nuclear radiation that had originally been blocked by the missile casing." He explained even further. Emile grabbed all of his weapons and went to the door.

"Are you coming?" he asked. Joseph wasn't quite sure why he was so anxious to go.

"Sure, but what about the car parts?"

"We'll get 'em after. Do ya' have any rad-x?" he said as he pushed open the door and politely waited for Joseph to exit first. Joseph ran to the door as to not insult his offer and exited into the car lot.

"Yeah, I have some Rad-x and some Rad-away." Joseph told him.

"Good, then let's go." Emile said as he began walking toward the street.

"Why do you want to go see this bomb so badly?" Joseph asked as he followed Emile.

"Because these poor bastards have been sufferin' for two hundred years, and someone has to put 'em outta' their misery." He explained. No matter how sadistic the plan was, it proved that he had a heart. Still, slaughtering anything on a massive scale was never seen as a good thing in Joseph's eyes. Not to mention that there would most likely be a horde of the ghouls to fight through and they would have to be careful if they wanted to come out of it alive.

"The bomb should be three hundred feet south, at least." He said as he gripped the grip of his rifle and pulled on the bolt on its side, releasing the last shell that had been used. The bullet shell made a ting-ting sound as it bounced back and forth, rattling on the ground. "You ready?"

"Hell yeah man, let's do it!" cheered Emile as he walked off toward the south. Joseph walked close behind him, as he looked up at the calm sky.

"Shouldn't we go back and grab the others, cuz this is gonna' be hard as hell." Suggested Joseph, Emile looked back at him and shook his head.

"Naw, we don't have ta' involve them. We're more than a match fer a bunch of Rad-Walkers." Emile replied, cockily. Joseph put his gas mask on and continued to follow.

* * *

Not even ten minutes later after they left, had they stumbled upon a sight to behold; but not to touch. A missile; mainly the warhead since the back casing of it had been banged up pretty bad in its landing. It had the well-known soviet symbol of the "Hammer and Sickle" painted in red on part of the missile's fuselage like case. The missile had landed directly beside the wall of an office building that looked like it could have been a bank at one time. The crater was at least five metres in diameter and a liquid of some kind surrounded the warhead. Joseph and Emile were huddled behind a car a few metres from the beginning of the crater.

A large group of Ghouls were huddled near the missile like they were drawn to it for whatever reason. "Hey." Whispered Emile, "Is that one… glowing?" he pointed at a ghoul with barely anything covering up his rotten tissue, and its skin was indeed glowing a luminescent green.

Joseph slowly counted out each visible ghoul and tried to ignore the ticking of his Geiger counter. There was at least twenty from what Joseph could see, and from what he knew about nuclear warheads the warhead should not be set off by an explosion, unless the explosion is of the nuclear variety. _"I have a plan."_ He said through his gasmask.

"What?" Emile questioned.

"_After I give the signal – and you'll know what it is – I need you to start killing every ghoul you see."_

"I don't like the sound of this…"

"_Trust me."_ Joseph reached down to his belt and with a click sound threw a frag grenade in the direction of the Ghouls. The grenade landed with a ting-ting and then, after the zombies got a good look at the explosive, it exploded sending body parts flying in every direction from the site of the detonation.

Ghouls from all around the area turned their heads and growled at their aggressors. Joseph held his rifle against his shoulder and said: _"NOW!"_

Emile let out bursts of bullets off into the crowds of Ghouls heading their way. Only a couple of bullets were needed for each ghoul since hot led and rotten flesh was comparable to a hot knife through warm butter. Joseph began firing his own rifle and pegged one in the head, which tripped the zombie behind it. The Ghoulified residents of the town were getting mowed down faster than Joseph thought they would, which boded well. Emile was hooting and hollering as his target's heads hit the ground with a thud and blood splattered everywhere. The ticking of the Geiger counter was synonymous with the rattling of the gun's barrel at this point, and Joseph's ears were going numb from the constant sounds that came from his gun. The battle high was intense by the time that the last ghoul fell to the ground, and their breathing sounded like you could hear it for miles.

Emile turned to Joseph, "Good… Good work there… woo…" he exasperated as he leaned against the old wrecked car. Suddenly Joseph could hear the sound of something familiar even though his ears were still ringing. Down the street, in the direction of the missile, appeared a horde of at least fifty or more mutants. One looked over and pointed at Joseph as it howled. There might have been more than half a kilometre between them and their quarry, but ghouls were mighty fast when they needed to be.

"_Fuck it, run!"_ hollered Joseph as he rotated his rifle across his chest with the strap to land on his back. The two boys jumped into a full out sprint for home, but their current home was more than two kilometres away from them now, and they were already tired.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" breathed Emile as he continued running.

"_This may have been a bad idea!"_ called out Joseph to the other boy beside him.

"Agreed!" Emile screamed back as they kept running. The zombified men and women were beginning to close in on their prey, but Joseph wouldn't have it. He reached into his medical bag and pulled out two inhalers. He pulled down his mask and turned to Emile.

"Meel', catch!" he shouted and threw the inhaler to his left. Emile barely caught the container, but looked disgusted either way.

"JET!? You want us ta' do JET!?"

"We have no choice; it gives you a rush of energy and power, just do it!" Joseph shouted back again before putting the inhaler to his lips. He pushed down on the inhaler and as he inhaled his body was filled with an almost joyous feeling of energy and carefreeness. Before they knew it, both Emile and Joseph were jumping onto the roofs of cars with no effort and they never missed a single step. The ghouls appeared to be slowing down behind them; but they were high, so as far as they knew they could have been in front of them. By the time they had made it more than half way back the high had worn off and they felt more tired than ever. Both of Joseph's legs hurt and his head was pounding like a Brahmin skin drum. They fell to the ground in the middle of the street and lied there for what seemed like hours.

"Eh, man…" mumbled Emile.

"Yeah…"

"Let's nah't do that again… ever… please…"

* * *

"So you didn't get the parts?" Mathew asked with his arms crossed in disappointment.

"No… we tried to take on some ghouls, but more came so we had to run." Joseph explained. Mathew looked very unimpressed by their poor excuse.

"You tried to kill some ghouls? Why would you approach a ghoul you idiot?" he hassled to the two younger men. Emile turned his head to the side.

"Curiosity got the better of us…" he said. Mathew shook his head and scoffed.

"You Dumbasses." He said before walking off to the house. "I'll drive up there with martin after; you two just get some rest." He said before shutting the door behind him. Joseph turned to look at Emile and the two of them just began laughing spontaneously. After around a minute of nonsense the two men collected themselves and cleared their throats.

"So, what is there to do around here now?" Emile asked hypothetically. Joseph shook his head and shrugged, lazily.

"In this world, the only thing to do is survive." He answered melancholically. Emile slowly turned to him with a look of slight disgust written on his face.

"You are one depressin' sunvabitch, you know that?" he said with a smirk. Joseph began laughing again, but stopped before it evolved into a fit like previously.

"Let's not touch that jet again though, eh?" Joseph remarked.

"That's a good idea." He answered.

* * *

Later that night, after both dinner and a trip out to the dealership to look for parts, the five travelers were gathered in the living room snacking on whatever extra food they had and talking about whatever they could think of. In the background was a barely audible radio station playing off of an old stereo system. Martin and Emile sat on the ground, by choice, while Mathew sat in his own chair and Joseph sat in the old patched loveseat with Jaden beside him.

Emile interrupted something that was being said by Martin to talk to Mathew, "Can we stop fer a bit once we reach the settlement in Swift Current?" he asked, seemingly at random considering the suddenness of his question.

"I guess… but, why?" Mathew asked back at the caravaneer.

"I… uh… well I…"

"He has a friend there, a very special friend…" Jaden teased. Joseph clicked into what she meant and began to laugh softly. The irony of the situation was the best part.

"Shuddup, okay. I promised 'er that I would bring 'er with me next time we came through." Emile pointed at Jaden. Mathew's head shot up from his bag of chips.

"Wait… we're bringing another person?" he asked. "Because I don't want to install another seat."

"Don't worry, I'll put some seats in the back; I just need some tools and a bit a' help." He replied. Mathew didn't look in the least bit rapt.

"And where are we going to put the food?" he retorted. Emile opened his mouth, but closed it soon after. A moment later he opened it again and spoke.

"We have too much food anyways; we should just leave it here for other people who come by." He said out of desperation, hoping that Mathew would see reason.

"Or we could stash it?" Suggested Martin. Mathew turned to look at him.

"Now that's a good idea. We could use the food when we get back." He said.

"I still need someone to help me with fixin' up the new seats?" Emile asked to no one in particular.

"I'll help tomorrow, but don't expect me to be doing all of the work." Joseph said.

The rest of the night everyone spoke and told jokes while listening to the old music that sang from the radio in the back of the room. Emile found a bottle of old vodka and decided it would be a fun idea to drink all of it, which he regretted soon after when he was puking through the window. Jaden stayed close to Joseph for the longest time and snuggled firmly against his arm most of the time that they spent in the living room. Joseph still wasn't sure if he enjoyed her clinginess or not. After what Emile had told him about her family he couldn't bring himself to part with her even for the most mundane of reasons, and so there he was with his arms wrapped around her. Did he feel some guilt knowing the truth, or did he feel like it was his place to know? He didn't know what to think exactly, but he knew that he couldn't hurt her as Emile had assumed he would. Joseph looked down at the top of her head and he could see that, regardless of how much blood she had seen and spilled in her life, she was as innocent as a new-born pup at heart.

"I'm going to bed." She said, out of nowhere. Joseph let her go from his arms and watched as she walked away and everyone said goodnight. He turned back to his friends and saw the cheeky looking smiles on their faces.

"What?" he asked obliviously. Martin scoffed.

"She wants you… bad." He said with crossed arms, and a smirk on his face. Joseph shook his head.

"That's sick; we're not that… way… yet." Joseph looked over at Emile as the other man spoke.

"Even I can tell she wants ya'." He didn't do much to back up Joseph's position. Mathew laughed a bit before he spoke.

"On the bright side, at least you know she's clean." Mathew and Martin laughed and the latter gave the former a high-five. Emile sat there, unimpressed by their perversion of his friend, even if he was still drunk. "Assuming she hasn't slept around, of course; she looks fresh to me."

"You guys are disgusting!" Joseph exclaimed.

"Who taught you to talk about ladies like that?" Emile wondered aloud in his drunken stupor. Mathew held his hands forward.

"It's just a joke! Don't get your panties all knotted up about it." He defended.

"I don't like you talking about her like that…" Joseph sneered threateningly. Mathew threw his arms up when he saw the serious look in Joseph's eyes.

"Okay, won't happen again then." Mathew was still smiling though.

* * *

Later in the night-time, everyone had gone off into different areas of the house to go to bed for the night, but Joseph found himself not going towards his own room. Instead he stepped up the stairs and made his way down the hall to the room with the master bedroom, where Jaden was staying. She had invited him to stay in her bed whenever he felt like it, but it was still a strange thought. He creaked open the door and stepped inside the dim lit bedroom, closing the door behind as he did. Jaden was awake, reading something in the low light of the nightstand lamp powered by a mini-generator. It didn't seem as if she had noticed him, so Joseph walked over to the bed and took his coat off, hoping that the rustling noise would grab her attention. It did and she looked up from her book, but with all of her clothes still on, she couldn't have been ready for bed. Joseph sat down on the side of the bed and looked at her while she stared back.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" he asked tenderly. She scoffed.

"Because… we're not going to sleep." She replied promiscuously. Joseph's expression went absolutely blank.

"W-w-w-what?"

"Not like that! You naughty thing." She smiled at him and slapped his leg. Joseph was now, officially, confused.

"Then what are you doing?"

"We're going to go for a walk, down to the lake just down the road." She pointed to the east and Joseph snapped back into reality.

"What is there to do at an old lake?"

"You are full of questions." She giggled, "Just shut up and follow me."

* * *

The road was glossy, wet, and icy from the frost forming in the early winter morning. The couple walked down the road, side by side, and guns in hand ready for anything to happen, because in the wasteland you never know. Joseph had tuned into one of the radio stations that he had picked up on his pip-boy and it played "Maybe" by the Ink Spots from the days of old. Joseph knew all of the words to every ink spots song, since there wasn't much else to do in the vault but listen to music. He walked down the road singing the lyrics in perfect time with the music.

"Ma~aybe you'll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near. Then maybe you'll ask me to come back again. And maybe I'll say "Ma~aybe"…"

Jaden chuckled light heartedly and let her rifle slide to the side of her body, "You know all the words don't you, like, to everything?"

"Pretty much." He laughed back at her. She laughed just as hard and then, in her hysterics, slipped back on the icy road. Joseph dropped everything and slid down onto one knee, catching her in the process before raising her back to her feet.

"Remember when we first met and I called you a gentleman?" She said, with her hands still in his.

"Yeah…"

She moved her face closer to his, "That was an understatement." She said before locking her lips against his and then quickly releasing, like a tease. He had to admit, as a man, he was a bit disappointed in her teasing him like this. None the less, he followed her down to the lake for the rest of the way, listening to old music that sounded like angels singing to their ears, especially in a world where the only sound to be heard usually were gun shots.

When they had finally gotten down to the lake, down a hill, through the brush of long dead trees and bushes, the scene was breathtaking. The lake had just a thin layer of frost over it that seemed to slow the movement of the water, but not stop it completely; like an ice flow from the north.

"This happened… just overnight?" Joseph wondered.

"Yep. This is what's called the "Cataclysm of weather events" theory." Jaden replied as if she were the smartest person in the world right now.

Joseph turned to her and exhaled the cold air, "I was in science class in the vault, you know." He said stubbornly.

"Yeah, well soon enough it's gonna be a nuclear-winter wonderland out here!" she said almost cheerfully.

"You like winter? I've heard it's terrible." He reminded. She turned and grabbed his hands again, jokingly more so than flirtatiously.

"Things with a cold exterior often have a lot to offer." She said before sliding back on the path of ice and doing a spin before almost losing her balance.

Joseph put his hands to his hips, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, you're just a square." She jeered. Joseph just laughed softly, without a comeback to use.

"I always thought I was too round to be a square." He defended jokingly. She giggled back before sliding back into his arms.

"Good point, let's go back now." Jaden said as she grabbed his hand and ran up the hill and onto the road back to the house.

* * *

When Joseph woke up that morning he felt refreshed and revitalized, as well as naked down to his boxer shorts. He was nearly about to get out of bed when he realized that his arms were wrapped securely around something, something soft. He opened his tired eyes wider and saw that Jaden was still asleep in his arms. She snored softly like a baby and Joseph had to stop himself from laughing at how random the sound was in the quiet of the room. He put his head back to the pillow and stared at her face, waiting for her to wake up. He soon realized that she was not the morning type and that waiting was not the optimal solution to his problem of being trapped by Jaden. He didn't want to wake her however, so he instead went back to sleep hoping that she would wake up soon.

He awoke when he heard Jaden's soft voice say: "How do you sleep with this thing on?" as she grabbed at his left arm and his pip-boy.

"Easy…" he said groggily while he tried to sit up. When he opened his eyes he noticed that she too was near naked, "I lay down."

"You are such a smart ass!" she said as she slapped his leg again. Joseph rubbed his eyes and looked around, taking in the sunlight that shone through the windows.

He turned to the half-naked woman and his eyes opened wider, "We didn't… do anything last night, did we?" he asked worriedly.

"No, you said you didn't want that yet. Remember?" she reminded him. He rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah, I remember."

"Then what? You don't trust me with your unconscious body?" she giggled. He couldn't help but laugh at her, regardless of how grotesque the joke was.

"What are you implying?" he asked with a smirk.

"Nothing." She grinned, "Nothing at all." Luckily he knew she was joking; he hoped. Although if she was doing something inappropriate to him in his sleep, he probably wouldn't object – as if he could anyway.

* * *

"Should I call them now? It's pretty early in the morning." Amos stated as they packed up their sleeping bags and left the old building they had sought refuge in for the night. Amos packed everything into the vehicle and turned to Thaddeus. "Well?" he asked.

Thaddeus pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his refillable lighter. He inhaled the smoke and then breathed it out through his nose, "Maybe you should wait until later." He answered. Samantha and Daniel were getting the final things packed up when Thaddeus finished his smoke and flicked it onto the dusty cracked pavement.

"Good idea, no point in starting the day off with tension like that, eh?" he said before he got into the car. "Ready up boys, we're headin' out!"


	10. This Is Worth Fighting For

Emile hopped out of the back of their SUV and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with a lighter he had found. He inhaled the chemicals and released the grey cloud of smoke from his mouth as the chilled winds of autumn carried the smoke away to the west. He, with the help of Joseph, had just finished installing the two new seats in the back of the SUV, complete with their own seatbelts. Joseph jumped out from the back of the vehicle as well and swatted away the remaining smoke that was in front of his face.

"I never knew you smoked?" He said.

"Only on occasion." Emile replied before going back to his smoke.

"That shit's bad for you, you know."

"So is life." He said coldly. "Especially when you live out in the wasteland."

"Hey Emile! Put down the cancer stick and help me with this stuff!" called Mathew from over by the door to the house. He was carrying a box full of food that he had packed the day before. Emile put out his cigarette and walked over to the armor-clad man, grabbing the box and then walking toward the SUV again. He placed it in the back of the vehicle (what space they had left in the back.)

"It's like Arroyo in here there's so much food." He said.

Joseph looked at him weird.

"It's a city far down south, don't ask."

"Are we ready to get going yet?" asked Martin as he walked over to the two boys from out behind the house; what he was doing there was anyone's guess.

"We're gonna hit the road soon'ough." Emile answered as he picked his cigarette off of the ground and examined it. Finding it to be of no further use he threw it back on the road.

"Joe, did you say you checked for a gun shop?" Martin asked.

"Yeah. I searched the whole map, but there's nothing like a gun store in this town." He answered as he began to fiddle with his Pip-boy.

Martin sighed and shrugged his right shoulder to adjust the strap of his sniper rifle.

"Whatever; we have enough ammo for now." He said as he sat down in the passenger seat of the SUV and put his rifle beside him. Jaden came out of the house with her weapons and grabbed Mathew's laser-rifle that was leaning against the side of the house.

"Do you want me to put this in the car for you?" she asked as he was bringing a box to the vehicle.

"Yes; thank you!" he called as he huffed before lifting the heavy box and placing it in the back of the SUV, "Car parts, just in case." He answered before anyone could ask. The box barely fit with the rest of the boxes and equipment. Jaden walked over to the car and put the laser weapon on the driver's side right beside his seat, where it fit quite snuggly. She threw her own weapon in the back, but kept her pistol on her side, in its holster.

Joseph was complaining to himself about the cold when the first snowflake he had ever seen landed daintily on his hand, melting instantly from his warmth. He looked up to the clouds overhead and saw that this would not be the last snowflake he would be seeing. He already hated the cold of it all, and now he would have to deal with frozen water in the air?

"Ain't that a kick in the head…?" he said to himself.

"Don't like it, do ya'?" Emile asked with a smirk.

"Not gonna be a big fan I don't think." He answered as he held out his tongue and caught one in his mouth. He spit it out instantly after he noticed how it tasted of gas and waste.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you; nuclear fallout in the precipitation, ya' see." Emile replied as he laughed.

"Shut up…"

Mathew readied himself in the driver's seat of the car and closed the door to his side. He rapped his metal clad hand on the door through the window to get Emile and Joseph's attentions.

"Let's get a move on." He said before rolling up the window. Emile opened up the door to the vehicle and pushed one of the seats down so he could crawl into the back where his new seats were. They didn't match the other seats in the car at all, but they weren't looking for style points when cruising down a decrepit old highway scattered with corpses and garbage.

Emile put the seat back up in front of him as he strapped himself in and let Jaden and Joseph take the middle row to themselves. Joseph placed his rifles on the floor, as well as his chest holstered revolver. Everyone looked ready to go, but before Joseph could strap his belt in, he noticed that Jaden was shivering quite a lot in her leather outfit. She was trying to hide it, but that didn't work. Joseph took off his fleecy and thick jacket, instead draping it over Jaden's shoulders. She turned and looked at him in his vault suit which she thought fit him quite nicely with its quaint, blue pop-up collar.

"Thanks…" she said before leaning in toward him and snuggling close to his body. Her breath against his neck was warm and soft.

It was all he needed to keep warm.

* * *

Hours of traveling through the maze of wrecked cars upon the now snow coated highways was what it would take to get to Swift Current, a settlement in what used to be western Saskatchewan. Settlers from around the area that had survived the bombs and had not died decided to settle around the town and eventually it became a common stop for caravans from all over. It was a testament to how much could be accomplished if people simply worked together. In the wasteland however, working with people you didn't know was enough to get you a bullet in the back of your head.

They arrived without much trouble in between the town they stayed in and Swift Current. They didn't even stop through the towns they had to go through on the way to their destination; no one there anyways. Their ammunition stocks were in fair condition and they had lots of rounds to go around for their journey so there was no need to stop anywhere. It had been five hours since they had set out from their temporary shelter back in the other town, and the sun had not yet begun to set. The ruins of the city seemed to be larger than that of the previous town, but only a small strip along the main road actually sheltered people. Shacks and buildings that had been hastily repaired lined the street. Traders stood behind their stands with their wares on display and motioned towards travelers and locals to come and see what they had to offer. The paved highway that cut through the town was just as cracked and rugged as any other portion of road they had seen. Grey clouds covered the sky as they usually did this time of the year, but the settlement had not yet been hit with snow. They still had time to prepare for the coming early winter, but it was still chilly out in the air.

Mathew parked the SUV beside a vacant house and undid his seatbelt. He put his intimidating helmet on and turned to face the others in the back of the SUV.

"_I'll stay here while you go do your business. No one will fuck with a member of the BOS." _He stated matter-of-factly. Joseph nodded and so did Emile. Before departing the vehicle Jaden gave Joseph his thick coat back.

"I'll bring another back for you." He said; she had decided to stay in the car. "Matt, where are the caps?"

"_In a pouch in the back with the rest of the equipment."_

Joseph sifted through the bags of junk in the back until he heard the familiar jingling of bottle caps all bunched together. He reached in and grabbed a bag that made that same sound. He lifted it up and estimated.

"About a thousand worth in caps here." He said. Mathew waved his hand.

"_Just take 'em all."_

"Okay, thanks."

Emile, Joseph and Martin exited their vehicle and felt the cold winds against their warm bodies. Martin shivered violently for a moment before throwing his rifle back into the vehicle and grabbing his 12.7mm SMG instead. Both Emile and Joseph decided it would be best to take their rifles with them, in case things went south, no matter how unlikely it may have been.

They received some glances from the locals, but the settlers seemed generally unsurprised.

"I'm gonna go fetch mah lady-friend, you two can go shoppin' er whatever." Emile said as he walked off behind some buildings by himself.

"Can we be sure he's safe?" Martin asked.

"He'll be fine; he can take care of himself." Joseph reassured him with a pat on his shoulder.

The two men walked off down the old road and happened upon a merchant's stand with a middle aged man standing lazily behind it. He had a warm smile spread across his rosy cheeks, but he was not shivering or complaining about the cold. Joseph approached the stand and noticed equipment of all kinds on display for the customers to see.

"Welcome!" he said cheerfully, "We don't see many folks with working vehicles around anymore." He motioned over towards their SUV, "And even less often do we see a Brotherhood of Steel feller."

"We came from the west, from a vault there." Joseph answered his implied question.

"Well I'll be…" he said, "I grew up in a vault myself! Down south in the states." He scratched his stubbly shin and then leaned forward on his stand. "It was opened a long time ago, but some people stayed in the vault because it was safer."

"So life in the American vaults was good then?" Martin asked from behind Joseph.

"For the most part, but a lot of the vaults ended up failing. Don't know why though…" he said before perking up and putting the smile back on his face. "Do you want to see what I have for sale?"

"Well… Whaddya carry?" Joseph asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I can't help but notice you've got an H&K rifle on your chest there." He pointed.

Joseph held it up, "Yeah, why?"

"Well, Heckler & Koch put out this beauty just before the Great War and I think you'll enjoy it." The man reached under his stand and brought up a black box; military grade it looked like. He slammed the box onto the counter in front of him and turned it around to face his customers. "Open it."

Joseph undid the clips on the box and flipped the lid backwards to reveal what looked to be a part for a gun. The grooves on the top of the part matched exactly with the rail system under the barrel of his G36.

"What is it?" Joseph asked dumbfounded by the simplicity of the device, whatever it was.

"It's an under-barrel shotgun attachment for your gun there. Ya see, this here's where you reload it, and here's the trigger and safety." He pointed to his rifle. "Tell ya' what… I'll give you a discount for this here exquisite piece of engineering if you help us with a problem."

Joseph narrowed his tired eyes at the man, "What kinda problem is that?"

"There's some fellas across town that have been harrasin' the townsfolk and we need some help with them." He answered.

"Harassing them how?" Martin asked.

The man leaned forward and nudged the box, "They be raiders…" he said uneasily.

"We'll do it for the right… incentive…"

The man pushed the box forward again and then took the shotgun attachment out of its case, handing it to Joseph. "Take this with you, but I'll need something of yours for insurance." Joseph put the attachment on the bottom of his rifle and slid it securely into place.

Joseph sighed as he reached to the back of his neck underneath his collar, removing the cross necklace from his chest and placing it on the counter. "It has significant personal value." Joseph said, "And how much will that discount be anyways?" he asked.

"I'll give it to you for a hundred dollars' worth in caps. Usually it would be worth near a thousand!"

"How many raiders will we be going up against?" Martin asked.

"There's a good eight of them at least, but we're simple folk, we can't go into downtown and rough up a bunch of raiders all willy-nilly." He said, "Tell ya' another thing: I'll throw in some extra things if you pay me a hundred fifty; we're desperate people."

"Like what?" Joseph asked with an impatient look on his face.

The man again reached under his stand and produced another weapon, this time a grenade launcher with a single barrel and a wooden stock that looked to be previously used as told by the scratches along it.

"I'll let you take this as well, and then when you get back I'll tell the townsfolk what happened and I'm sure they'd throw in with me to get you all the ammo you need for anything you need." His hands seemed to be shaking, like he didn't really want to give up these treasures he had found, but it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. Joseph reached into his sack and threw a handful of caps onto the table as the man began to count. Joseph took the grenade launcher and put it on his belt with the clip he found on the side of the stock.

"Here's a few rounds for your launcher… just come back safe ya hear?" he handed Joseph three 40mm rounds for his grenade launcher and he deposited them safely in his pack.

"We will."

As they walked back to the SUV Emile appeared around a corner and waved to them with one hand while his other hand was in the hand of a woman with dark hair that fell to her shoulders. She was dressed in winter clothes and gave Joseph a regarding smile. Emile shooed her over to the vehicle and pointed to the back to show her where to sit. He approached the two other men and looked down at Joseph's new weapons.

"Whoa! Where'd you get those?" he asked.

"No time to talk; Martin grab your rifle while me and Meel' go ask for a map."

* * *

"_There they are…"_ Martin breathed through his respirator as he looked on through his scope at the skeleton of an old collapsed building from long before. He could see four raiders, only one of them had a firearm and the rest were carrying knives and other melee weapons.

"_We'll move in and wait for you to take one of 'em."_ Joseph told them, _"Are you ready Emile?"_ he asked. Martin was shivering in his leather jacket, but Joseph knew he could still make the shot from a mile away.

"_I'm ready, let's go."_ Emile answered.

The two men snuck their way down from Martin's vantage point and made their way toward where the raiders had made their camp. The constant piles of rubble and broken walls along the way made for sufficient cover from being seen by the marauders that were sheltering near. Joseph and Emile were careful not to disturb the scorched earth beneath their heels as they slunk closer and closer to the camp like two Mirelurks stalking their quarry. Only these Mirelurks had much more deadly pincers.

After a few minutes of making slow advances, Joseph could actually hear the raiders speaking amongst themselves. Something about psycho; typical. They were a mere few feet away from the camp now, and Joseph motioned toward both of his comrades to wait. Martin pulled his head away from his scope and gave him a thumb up, and Emile nodded. Joseph slowly reached down and picked up a medium sized stone. He turned and threw it at the top of the building, on the opposite side of where they were.

The rock made a loud noise on impact with the back wall of the building, and all of the fiends turned. Looking at his compass, he could now see eight heat signatures, like the man had said.

"Hey… what was tha-!" the sound of a suppressed .308 round was heard followed by the splatter of blood.

"Son of a bitch!" one of the raiders screamed.

Joseph popped out from behind his cover with the grenade launcher in his hands. He loaded a round into it just as the raiders turned to see what it was that would be killing them. Joseph pulled the trigger and the 40mm grenade flew forward, exploding on impact and killing three of the raiders as their signatures blipped off of his radar. Joseph put the launcher on his hip just as another bandit came around the corner with a cleaver in his hand.

Emile appeared from behind his cover and pumped the man full of lead from his AK-47, leaving the man's chest looking like bloody Swiss cheese. He fell to the ground and stopped moving, with a pool of blood gathered around him. Another raider popped his head out from the window of the building with a rifle in his hands. His head was blown off by Martin before the man could even aim down the sights.

"_That's six, but what about-!"_ Joseph was interrupted when he was thrown to the ground by a woman who had jumped on top of him with a knife in her dirty hands; she had hardly any clothes on. How was she not freezing? Joseph forced the woman back and then he grabbed his rifle. He pulled the trigger on his shotgun attachment and ripped a hole through the woman who then slumped against the broken wall behind her and slid down, leaving a trail of blood leaking down the grey bricks.

The last blip on his compass was coming closer and closer and he readied his rifle for whatever was to come through the entranceway on the other side of the dilapidated building. Suddenly, a lone radroach scurried through the opening, looked around, and then retreated back the way it had come. Joseph released a much stressed sigh of relief that he had pent up.

"_Well where is the last one?"_ Joseph asked himself. A shot rang out near him and he looked over to see Emile clutching at his now bloody arm. There was now a ninth blip on the radar. Joseph ran over to Emile and tackled him to the ground, behind his cover so the enemy could not see them. Martin fired two times and then the dust around them began to settle. Joseph slowly got to his feet as Emile continued to grope at his own arm and groan in pain. Joseph peered over their cover and saw that the raider was a few metres from them in another window that was out of the range of his radar because of where he was facing. Typical luck.

"_Sit up."_ He told Emile as Martin began to climb down from his own building. Emile groaned and grunted as he raised himself up and sat with his back against the broken wall. Joseph looked into his pack. Seven Stimpacks and three med-xs were left. He took the stimpack and stabbed it into his friends arm. The wound began to close up, and the bullet popped out with it, leaving behind a temporary scar on the surface of his skin that was still raw. He reached into his pack again and took out some disinfectant, rubbing the clear liquid on the still bloodied wound. Emile cringed as the stinging pain of the disinfectant set in.

"_Thanks a million Joey…"_ Emile said as he breathed normally again.

Martin appeared beside them and crouched down. Joseph looked over at him and smiled.

"_Let's go search the bodies and then get outta here."_ He said.


	11. I'll Never Make The Same Mistake Again

The dust settled down only to be chosen again by the cold pre-winter gusts that swept the ground. Joseph approached the scene of the slaughter with his weapon still raised in caution. This was the part that he despised the most: Looting the dead to feed the living. Emile had no qualms with the deed as he delved his hands into the man's tight pockets and produced a syringe, almost pricking himself with it.

"Shit! Darn near got whatever the hell these idiots had." He said.

Martin on the other hand, was down on his knees, praying. When Joseph realized that was what he was doing, he only had time to hear him say 'Amen' before putting his cross pendant down his shirt again. THEN he began to root around in the pockets of the recently decapitated and mutilated. Joseph sighed compliantly as he began to search on and around the bodies. A messy mix of blood and mud was spread beneath the woman that Joseph had shot with his shotgun attachment; a hole was shredded through her chest where he had blasted her. He bent down and began to search her body for anything of value, eventually producing a bag of bottle caps. He opened it to the familiar jingling sound and found ten in total – an average raiders take. He moved into the building where a large burn mark covered the floor where his grenade had hit. Gore was strewn about everywhere.

Killing someone was one thing, but to face your victim after the act had been done, and then look into their cold, dead eyes and try to feel nothing… It seemed like an even more impossible task when you were also stealing from their corpses.

Joseph put his respirator back on his face to mask the smell of death. He stepped around the marred leg of one of the male raiders and tried to refrain from stepping in the vast amounts of blood splattered everywhere else. It was then that he spotted a case on the wall. 'Break in case of emergency' it would have said if the glass hadn't already been broken. Sitting in the broken case was an amazingly untouched fire-axe, ready for the taking. He tiptoed over the cadaver of another man and then trotted his way to the far wall where the case was hung upon the gray brick wall. He used the butt of his rifle to break the remaining glass and then reached in to claim his prize. He half expected a trap of some sort to go off as he stretched his hand in and pulled out the axe. He looked it over and found that it was in rather pristine condition for something of its age.

He exited the broken building and bypassed the other corpses; there wasn't much left of them to search anyways. Martin was sitting on the rubble of (surprise) another downed wall. Emile was still looking through his loot; a few stimpacks and some caps. Joseph tightened the strap on his rifle so that it was right against his chest and he continued to hold the fire-axe in his hand. Emile looked up and threw his hands in the air.

"Aw! Why do'ya always get the cool new toys!?"

"Because he found it first you poor sport." Martin quipped.

"Don't worry 'Meel," Joseph said as he rested his axe on his shoulder, "After this I don't think I'll be able to carry anything else." He laughed as he continued to inspect the blade of his axe after bringing it back down off of his shoulder.

"Well, should we head back then?" Martin suggested.

Joseph took a quick glance around his shoulder before turning back and grinning, trying to lighten the mood.

"Sure; there's not much else to do here."

* * *

"My god! You actually killed them, and brought their weapons back too!" cheered the man behind the stall as some of the other townsfolk began to gather around. Emile dropped a large pile of weapons at their feet and smiled triumphantly.

"Yup, we're purddy damn amazin'!" He said with his hands on his hips. A little girl walked over and picked up the knife. Joseph rushed to her and gently took it from her hands with a delicate touch.

"These," he waved it in front of her, "are not toys."

"Neither is this, friend."

Joseph looked up to see the man from the stall holding out his hand, and in it was the cross that was so dear to Joseph. His last remnant of home. Joseph took the thing from the man's hand and placed it back around his neck, shaking his hair out of the way as he adjusted it around the back of his neck. He placed his own hand firmly in the handshake of the one who contracted them, and gave him a nod.

"Thanks." Joseph said.

"We should be thankin' you, stranger!" the man said, "You just saved us a hella lotta trouble." He released Joseph's hand and stepped back.

"As promised, we have a big case of ammo and meds for ya'." He nudged a big green container with his foot.

"It was no problem, really." Joseph testified modestly.

"Bull! You fellas killed eight raiders without hardly thinkin' bout it!"

Joseph felt inclined to correct the man's grammar, but thought it best not to in the end. Martin stepped forward and opened up the olive green case, which was shown to contain boxes of ammunition for numerous weapons and a medical case of ten stimpacks. Martin searched it all over as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his forearm.

"It's all good, too." He said.

"Darn tootin' it is! We wasn't gonna gyp ya' if that's what you thought." The man said, with an air of offence at the statement. Joseph put his axe through the belt loop in his blue and yellow C-05 jumpsuit and then bent down to grab the box of supplies. He threw the green box over his shoulder and began to make his way toward the SUV where the rest of their friends were.

He loaded the case into the back of the SUV where there was hardly any room to put it, so he forced it in between the box of food and the added seats. That was when Joseph noticed the woman in the back with her dark brown hair and brown eyes that seemed to stare right through him. Not in an intimidating way, but an innocent and almost clueless manner. Joseph's tongue slipped before he could give her a proper greeting.

"Can you use a gun?" he asked suddenly.

"Well, why wouldn't I be able to?" she replied in a soft and comforting voice, "I wouldn't doubt it if you're sayin' that because of how I look."

"Huh?"

"Oh don't be a stiff. I know what men think when they look at me." She said with an air of promiscuity.

"I bet they think that you're a ditz." Jaden said suddenly, with a smile stretched across her face as she leaned over the back seat.

"Aw don't be that girl Jaden."

"Don't be what girl? The smart one?" she replied jokingly. The two seemed to be well acquainted. The other woman lit a cigarette with the car lighter and then blew the smoke toward Joseph. He didn't flinch.

"Not darin' to even tell off a woman after she has done something so rude…" she began, as she then held out her dainty hand in a welcome gesture, "You must be Joseph." She said, "Emile has told me all about you and your adventures in the big city."

Joseph took her hand and gave her a careful handshake, making sure not to squeeze too hard.

"I'm sure he has."

"I've heard that you're quite the gentleman?"

"That may be true, but I can't be the judge of that." He answered. The woman continued to smile.

"And he's modest too." She said. Joseph opened up the ammo box and began to look for any 12 gauge rounds for his shotgun attachment.

"This one's a real joker." Jaden said, "And don't call me Jaden; I told you to call me Jane!"

"Darling, that name is ridiculous! Your name is Jaden, wear it like a banner."

Jaden crossed her arms and sighed through her nostrils.

"Fine, call me Jaden – just don't call me Jade."

"To be honest," Joseph proceeded cautiously, trying not to make her mad, "I never liked the name Jane all that much." He backed up a bit when Jaden shot dagger eyes at him with her brow curled inward in distaste.

"Then don't call me it." She said. Joseph grabbed the ammo that he found and then closed the trunk before hopping into the middle row of seats with Jaden. He was feeling whipped, but he knew that that face meant that he should probably do as he was told for the time being. He sat down and placed his rifle and axe on the floor in front of him.

"My name is Gwen, by the way." The woman in back said as she patted Joseph's shoulder, "Sorry for not giving you a proper introduction."

"No need to be sorry," Said the always modest Joseph, "I started the introductions rudely myself."

"Joey; come closer." Jaden said. Joseph scooted over to her side of the SUV and she sunk her head against his shoulder. She released a soothing breath like a dog resting down to sleep for the night. It was strange how fleeting her anger with him was. Joseph wrapped his arms around her and cradled her in his embrace.

"I said I was going to come back with a jacket for you, didn't I?" he asked as he finally remembered.

"In your defense," she said, "You make a pretty warm jacket."

* * *

"Maybe I should call 'em now… and say I'm sorry to Joseph for being an ass and jumpin' to conclusions." Amos said as he laughed, with his hands still on the wheel of the SUV. He pulled the vehicle over to the side of the dead highway that they were on and everyone got out getting some fresh air. Amos lit a cigarette and took a quick drag before coughing violently after having taken too much.

"You okay?" Thaddeus asked.

"I'll be fine." He answered as he raised his wrist to his face and began to depress the buttons and flick the knobs. He watched as the radio began to tune into the call frequency, but alas it was a failure.

– Out of Range – it had said.

"Goddamn it!" Amos swore as he threw his arm back down to his side.

"Looks like we'll have to wait after all." Thaddeus observed.

* * *

Jaden was wearing a new winter coat that Joseph had decidedly gone out of his way to buy for her. The cozy brown jacket kept her warm alongside Joseph's body heat. As they sat in the vehicle and in each other's arms, Mathew sped down the highway at breakneck speeds dodging around debris on the road. The ride seemed to be getting bumpier and bumpier. Martin hypothesized that they were getting closer to the epicenter of one of the explosions and that the road was more cracked as a result. Joseph guessed that that was not far from the truth.

They had been on the road for nearly two hours when Mathew spotted something. The group was just outside of the next town, but Mathew insisted on checking on what he saw. The town itself looked to be an old agricultural settlement, mainly because of the farming equipment scattered around and the lack of any tall buildings. Emile was the first to show objection.

"Hey? What's the big idea?" he said, interrupting his flirtation going on in the back over a cigarette.

Matt parked the vehicle along the side of the road and looked back at Emile.

"I saw something." He said before leaving the vehicle and putting his helmet on. Joseph wasn't sure what Mathew had seen, but he knew that it had to be at least sort of important for him to be checking it out. Joseph got out of the car as well and followed Mathew over to what he had seen. When he came up beside the armor clad wanderer he saw why he was so interested. Matt was hovering over a body, but what was disturbing was the obvious cause of death.

The man's mouth was gaped open in horror, and his skin was blistered and swollen all over. Boils of festering puss dotted his skin, but needle-point small holes seemed to be the only open wounds on his body.

"What the fuck?" Joseph breathed as he looked on in revulsion. Mathew turned to Joseph and shook his head.

"_I've never seen anything like this."_

"But we need to push on."

"_I know that, which is why we need to fix the problem."_

"What do ya' mean?"

Matt walked back over to the car and motioned to Emile.

"'_Meel you're coming with us; you three stay with the vehicle. That town is less than a kilometer away so I'm guessing the problem is in there."_

Martin looked at him worriedly.

"I don't know… are you sure that's a good idea?"

"_We're not driving through there until we know that we won't be monster chow."_ Mathew said, _"It's the only idea."_

* * *

The air was chilly to say the least walking down the highway unsheltered by the harsh winds. Emile rubbed his hands together looking for some warmth and found none. If Mathew was shivering at all, they wouldn't have noticed through such thick metal armor. When they finally reached the sign welcoming them to the town of Gravelbourg, Joseph spoke.

"What creature do you think did that?" he asked with his rifle gripped firmly in his hands. His safety was off and his trigger finger was itching like a bad rash.

"_Nothing that I've seen before."_ Matt answered. The trio walked past the first few houses in a neat row, but found and heard nothing. The three of them continued through the town, listening to the winds as they blew through the alleys and whistled through the cracks in the old houses. Joseph's hands were nearly frozen from the cold grip of his weapon and putting up his hood didn't help his already near frozen ears. Matt jumped suddenly and held his laser rifle up to his shoulder; aimed ahead. They were in the very middle of an intersection.

"What's wrong?" Joseph asked as he raised his weapon as well.

"_I thought I saw something… and heard…"_ he stopped for a moment, _"Buzzing…"_

"Hey," Emile interrupted, "I think I hear it too." The three men stood still and readied their weapons as they focused their ears. The very faint sound of buzzing could be heard starting and then stopping abruptly before once again continuing to buzz. Joseph, Emile and Mathew went back to back and aimed down the sights of their weapons. The wind continued to gust passed them.

Joseph spoke in hushed tones.

"What in the hell is that noise?"

Suddenly, out of the corner of his vision, Joe saw a flash of almost luminescent orange burst through the alley way with the speed of a jet before disappearing into the alley on the other side of the street. The buzzing sound seemed to accompany the movement.

"Did anyone see that?" he asked.

"I saw something too." Emile stated as he pushed up more against the backs of the other two. Without warning the buzzing became louder and then something exploded out from behind one of the alleys, toward them. A body the size of a man, but that of a wasp with a deep indigo exoskeleton. The creature's insect wings were a bright and intrusive orange. Most horribly, a stinger the size of Joseph's forearm protruded from its abdomen.

"What the fuck!?" Joseph screamed as he jumped out of the way and the giant wasp narrowly missed him with its stinger. It brushed passed the three boys and battered Matt with its wings as it turned to strike again. Joseph got to his feet and shot the creature with his rifle three times. The insect staggered but flew at him even with the wounds.

"They're fuckin' Cazadors!" Emile screamed out, "I shoulda known!"

"_What in the hell is it!?" _Mathew yelled as he shot it with his laser rifle and Joseph dodged out of the thing's way once again.

"No time to explain! Just shoot it!" Emile shouted as he raised his weapon. Joseph pulled the trigger on his shotgun attachment and blew the Cazador's abdomen apart. It fell to the ground and twitched about for a moment before dying. Joseph's eyes shot up.

"Matt! Behind you!"

Mathew turned just as another Giant tarantula-hawk tried to pierce his armor. Luckily the cazador's stinger hit directly on his breast plate, so as it bounced off of his metallic armor Mathew was flung back onto his rump, but with no damage done. He raised his laser rifle and shot three times, vaporizing the thing's head as it too fell to the tarmac. He got back to his feet and readied himself just as another two of the insects rushed them with stingers drawn forward.

Joseph pressed the button on his Pip-boy and V.A.T.S. mode was activated with the familiar beep.

Within the next few split seconds Joseph raised his weapon's sights to eye level and shot twice, obliterating the cazadors' heads and stringing their gore across the road. Their strange bile-green insect fluids sputtered out from the stumps left on their necks. Joseph caught his breath and looked around franticly. Plentiful buzzing could still be heard.

"Shit," Joseph swore, "We need to get outta here."

"_What in the hell are those things?"_ Mathew asked as he breathed through his helmet's respirator.

"No one's sure where they dun' came from," explained Emile, "but they're hella fast, and hella deadly. One prick and you'll be six feet under before the hour."

"Well that's a pleasant thought…" Joseph said.

"You're right though; we gots'ta go!" Emile said as he started back off toward the SUV. The other two followed quickly after him and prayed that they were not being followed. When the buzzing became louder once again, Joe rolled to the side just as another wasp came roaring past him with its stinger ready to kill. Emile unloaded on the creature until it fell to the ground and began to twitch violently. Another of them charged at Mathew. The former knight of steel threw his rifle to the side and wound up his power-fist. He stepped to the side just as the cazador rocketed toward him, just in time to strike the wasp in the abdomen. It exploded violently and the insect's gore splattered everywhere. He grabbed his rifle again and wiped off his visor before continuing to run with the others. Matt wiped off the rest of his armor the best he could as they ran away from the creatures.

The three wanderers turned regularly to fire upon their insect pursuers as they tried to make their escape from the infested town. Running and running down the highway until their feet almost bled was the only way to avoid the almost certain death of the cazadors' fearful stingers. Joseph turned once more – almost out of breath – and saw that their hunters had given up the chase and flown back off toward the town.

"Guys… Guys stop!" he said. The other two stopped and saw what he saw. Mathew removed his helmet and breathed a sigh of terrible relief.

"Thank god for that…" he said.

"I suppose," Emile began before his words got caught in his dry throat, "we may wanna' go south and avoid this place all together…"

The two other boys nodded their heads in agreement and began to walk back toward the SUV.

* * *

"Oh my God! Are you guys alright!?" Jaden said as she ran over and hugged Joseph, "What happened?"

"Some giant bugs, nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about!? Matt is covered in sickly green stuff!" she said.

"And the ladies still flock to me." Mathew jested. Joseph laughed mockingly.

"Yep, the women love a man in three inch thick plating." He joked. Martin approached them and looked intriguingly at the green ooze coating parts of Mathew's armor.

"What in the hell were these things?"

"You mean before they became this?" Mathew joked as he pointed at the yellow-green fluids on his chassis. Emile interrupted as Gwen finished giving him a sensual kiss.

"Cazadors. Nasty buggers they are."

"Giant blue wasp things with stingers the size of my gun!" Joseph described as he opened the door to the Vehicle and got in with Jaden following behind him.

"That's ridiculous! How can something like that exist?" Martin asked rhetorically as he got in the passenger seat and buckled himself up.

"Well if you're so eager to see then you can go check for yourself." Joseph suggested back with a smile.

"I think I'll pass." Martin answered. Joseph put his weapons down once again and buckled the middle seatbelt (Jaden wanted him close) around his waist and across his chest. Everyone got into the vehicle and Mathew turned to his Pip-map as he began to back up the SUV.

"South bound we go." He said, "Closest town to the south of here is Lafleche. That's where we're headin'."

* * *

Twenty minutes later they arrived on the outskirts of the next town, smoke rising from some of the houses, and learning from his previously reckless behavior, Mathew told Martin and Joseph to get on their scopes and see what the town had in store for them. After only a minute of searching, (Martin from the side window and Joseph from the sunroof) Joseph could notice that all of the trees were bent away from the east, and upon further inspection he could see why. A large crater to the south east was obviously the cause of this area's nuclear woes.

"See any ghouls or raiders?" He asked Martin.

"Nothing yet, but keep your eyes peeled." He answered.

Joseph took a moment to adjust his scope's zoom and then focused back on the search. His tongue caught in his cheek when he noticed a banner. A banner of deep crimson flying a golden bull. Joseph swallowed hard, for he had heard the stories.

"I think I know what that smoke is from…" he implied.

"What?" Matt inquired. Joseph took a moment to find his words again, and then asked his own question.

"How close to the border are we?" he asked. Mathew checked his Pip-boy for a moment.

"Not even a hundred Kilometers. Why do you ask?" Mathew asked back. Martin answered that question for him.

"Holy shit…" he breathed, "Is… is that guy on a cross!?"


	12. Ave

He would always remember the cold…

Even as he passed by the flames, he would forever remember how cold the town felt. How empty and devoid of life. How hollow everything was. The whole group had departed the vehicle after Mathew had parked it in a safer spot closer to the city. From what Martin and Joseph had seen through their scopes, there were no legionnaires occupying the town. Regardless, the six of them proceeded with caution and with weapons drawn.

Gwen had drawn her 44. Revolver from out of its holster and held it with strong unshaking hands, but a gentle touch. Joseph thought it was the right time to attach his silencer onto his rifle, just in case the town was not completely uninhabited. The sky was clouded with smoke bellowing black billows from the stacks of wood and tires that had been lit ablaze.

All of them stopped and gazed on in horror when they had finally reached the town center. Blood glazed brick walls and tall fires were the least startling thing now. A pile of mutilated body parts over five feet tall and ten feet wide was the centerpiece for these decorations of terror. Entrails of the deceased cascaded down the small mountain of corpse parts and rivers of blood spread long and wide across the pavement. Gwen and Martin stepped to the side to catch their breaths for a moment, and Gwen nearly vomited. Joseph thought about emptying his stomach on purpose before the smell could hit him.

It hit him just the next second.

He doubled over onto the dry area of the pavement and fumbled to get his respirator on as he coughed violently; he was almost throwing up. He got the mask on his face and the built-in air filters filtered out the smell as well as the fumes. He felt so glad that he couldn't smell that anymore, it was likely the worst smell that he had ever experienced.

Looking around he could see Jaden coughing as she grabbed her own mask off of her belt and put it to her face. In the background the scene was much worse. Like Martin had observed, men and women, young and old, were hung up on crosses like the ancient romans used to do to their captives; like Pilate had done to their messiah in the old books. The crosses in question appeared to be made from old electrical poles.

Looking around more, it was further revealed to him the revulsion of the sights around him. On pikes made from metal rods (from what he did not know) lining the streets sat the heads of some of the victims, it did not matter whom as long as they had been in the town at the time.

Joseph had heard many a gruesome tale of the atrocities of war that Caesar's legion had committed, and it was not a far cry from the days and acts of the old roman legion, but this was unexpected. Joseph looked over at Mathew who seemed to be unshaken by the graphic scene.

"_This is normal for the Legion. Burn, rape, kill and…"_ he hesitated for a moment as he looked around, _"Crucify."_ Joseph could take it no longer. He ran toward the nearest crucifix and jumped up onto it, climbing up the power pole's ladder-like protrusions of metal and stopping when he reached the victim's resting place. He reached around and saw that it was a girl not much older than him, but bloodied and bruised. He felt his fingers softly against her neck, and then again against her strung up wrist.

No pulse.

He jumped back down and kicked the pole in frustration. It hurt his toe but he made not a whimper; he was too angry to whine. He had never been so angry in his entire life, short as it was. He could feel his heart racing and beating like a tribal drum. His lungs were overexerting themselves to the point of exhaustion. He was literally incapable of comprehending how human beings could do such a thing to their own species.

He whipped out his pip-boy.

"_I'm gonna track these sons of bitches!" _he said angrily, _"Look for footprints Goddamnit!"_

"_Joe, clam down!" _Mathew interrupted, _"I've fought the legion before, on my trips to Arizona with the brotherhood."_ He breathed as he waited for Joseph to calm down. Joseph found comfort in staring into the other boy's deep black visor, so he put his wrist down. Matt spoke from experience, _"We can't do anything about it without getting ourselves killed…"_

"_Hey! I found something!"_ Martin screamed just before Joseph could object. Joe calmed himself down and ran over to Martin who held a piece of parchment in his hands, stained with blood and weathered by the elements. _"I found it pinned to the wall of town hall over there."_

Joseph held the paper as he read it aloud.

"_Denizens of the wasteland. Head this warning,_

_The mighty Caesar has fallen at the hands of an operative working for the two-headed bear and has evaded our justice, now our justice will be brought upon the rest of the world. From the Great Salt Lake to the Capital wasteland and from the Great Divide to New Reno, we will see the earth salted._

_If we are to burn for our doings and for our glorious leader then may the world burn with us._

_Forever True To Caesar!"_

Mathew and Emile looked absolutely thunderstruck, while the rest seemed clueless to this message's significance.

"_What in the bloody hell is "The Two Headed Bear"?"_ Joseph asked as he scoffed harshly, still filled with rage. Mathew was moving about with a stressed expression in his step and the way he walked.

"_That would be the NCR, The New California Republic. They're a bunch of crazed Pre-war enthusiasts who think they know how the world should work."_ He had a tone of disdain in his voice. _"Those bastards have been at odds with the brotherhood for years."_

"_California!? How could something so far away affect us like this?"_ Martin made his point clear, but it was lost on Mathew who was a supposed expert on this one of his groups many enemies.

"_They've expanded far up the west coast and have begun moving east as well; that was when they came into contact with the legion. The two have been at it ever since, but…"_ he lost his voice once again.

"_But what?"_ Joseph asked.

"_I can't believe Caesar is… dead. More so, I'm surprised that the Legion would ever let that happen without the rest of them dying first just to protect him."_ He felt like his knees were going to give up. It was too much to take in.

"_Are you okay?" _Jaden asked.

"_Yeah, but we have to get out of here; get to the next town over. If the legion is moving north then the safest place to be is far east. Luckily that's where we're going"_

* * *

Joseph was walking down the street with the rest of the group when Jaden grabbed a hold of his arm and tugged him toward her. He wasn't in the mood but he did not object. She took down her respirator and looked at him, stopping him in his tracks with nothing but her gaze. They stood in the road, hands in one another's as the rest of the group left them alone.

"Do you know how heart breaking the look on your face was when you felt for that girls pulse? When you found nothing?" she said with a sorrowful expression. Joseph didn't want to talk about it, but her expression forced his tongue. He brought his mask down now too.

"No…" his voice cracked.

"It tore me apart." She replied. They stood in silence for a moment before he broke the quietness.

"I couldn't do anything for her… not even avenge her…"

"But you tried." She felt his face with her rough hands. To him they felt as soft as silk and even more welcome. "You tried while the rest of us stood there and watched… while we did nothing…" Joseph didn't know how to respond to such a truth that he himself had not even noticed, but looking at everyone else's faces he could tell that they were ashamed to have not helped. They were envious of his selflessness.

"You are so compassionate," She said, "I can't understand how you survive out here."

"I have friends…" he answered with a burdened smile. She eased a smile across her face as well.

"_God Damnit all!"_ Mathew screamed from across the street, over by the SUV that was parked in the field just outside of town. _"Somebody stole all of our food!"_ Joe and Jaden whipped their heads around to see Mathew going into a fit.

"Is the Ammo gone!?" Martin screamed. Mathew ripped off his helmet and threw it into the vehicle as he glared at the now opened trunk door.

"No, but our fucking food is all gone!" he shouted again.

"Who the hell stole it then!?" Joseph hollered at him as he ran across the street toward them with Jaden in tow.

"I don't know, but it's All. Fucking. Gone!" he looked unequivocally livid, only outmatched by Joseph's previous rage. Joseph approached the vehicle with its back opened and saw that the box of food was indeed absent from its previous place in the trunk. Only a few packages of old food remained from the pile that was originally there.

"Son of a…" Joseph whispered to himself, "Where could they have gone?"

"Hell if I know, but…" Mathew was hesitant to suggest it, "We can't linger here."

"We need that food!" Joseph argued.

"We can get more food! I'll drive the SUV into town and we can search for some there." He angrily got into the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him. He drove out of the field that the car had been parked in and headed for the town square, leaving the others to walk.

"Well…" Joseph said as he forced himself calm again, "We'd better follow him…"

* * *

"I got some more." Emile said as he exited another building with a small box of food. Gathering to make up for all of the food that they had lost was just an extra slap in the face considering that it was stolen from right under their noses. Joseph helped Emile pile the food into the SUV and then pointed to the next building.

"You check over there, I'll take that place 'cross the way." He said. Emile let out a disenchanted sigh and then dropped his head.

"Fine…" he said lazily as he began to walk sluggishly over to the next brick building. Joseph looked back at all of the gore that surrounded them before abandoning his post near the vehicle to go searching like the rest of his group. He entered the old rickety door that was nearly off of its hinges, and then made his way slowly into the darkness. He reached into his bag for his light attachment to his rifle, but found that he had misplaced it. He sighed and then turned on his bright Pip-Boy light, illuminating the small room that now appeared to be a local grocery store or convenience center. He swallowed when he saw that the center of town was not the only place where gore was strewn about. Blood pools gathered around his feet and he had to stop himself from jumping back. Nevertheless, he continued on. Joseph flashed his wrist around the room, grabbing small amounts of supplies as he walked down the aisles. He exited the dark and bloody store and back into the open sky.

A single flake of iced sky fell onto his nose, and he let out another sigh, followed by an exaggerated groan.

"Why now?" he asked himself. He shook his head and then put his hood up, barely able to hold all of the boxes of food in his free hand. He tromped back across the street to the SUV and piled his own food into the back. Joseph wiped his hands and watched as everyone else returned with lackluster amounts of food. They finished packing the food into the trunk and then sat down in their usual seats. Mathew was the last one in, and he slammed the door behind him; breathing heavily from hoofing it all around town.

"See… Better…" he said in between breaths. Mathew put his striking helmet at his side and started the car by inputting the code into the onboard keypad. The engine roared back to life and they were off on the road once again.

A man watched from behind one of Lafleche's many buildings, hidden in the shadows and by the stealth-boy device that was attached to his wrist, masking him in an enveloping shroud of invisibility. As his body melded back into visibility it was revealed what his presence meant.

He was encased in old roman gladiator style armor with a blood red paint finish. Shoulder pads, knee pads, and a battle sash covering his upper legs, all red and black. His face was covered with a sports mask of some kind and a pair of shaded glasses that enshrouded his identity in further mystery. The only thing not of the same color palette was a golden bull emblazoned on his chest imposingly.

He raised a radio slowly to his face.

"I think I've found a few wastrels to carry our message with them." He said as he smiled wickedly under his mask and chuckled to himself.


	13. In The Shadow of The Valley

Manitoba, east of the ruins of Winnipeg…

A pair of unstable shacks creaked as the cold wind blew upon them, tearing at their walls with airborne earth and dust; they had not yet been hit with snow. Warning signs were put up around the perimeter to deter any would be trespassers who were stupid enough to wander into raider territory. The carcasses of dead wanderers and scavengers hung from spikes and from telephone poles, dismembered and gored-about in every known fashion. Spare limbs laid upon the ground as radroaches weathered the winds and tore at the decaying flesh of the lost parts. Their former owners were strung up, dead and without a proper ceremony to mark their passing as their bodies swayed back and forth like a metronome with the breeze.

Five raiders were having their own sadistic and doped-up party in the larger of the two shacks, welcoming their newest member. He was a muscly but thin white man with a half shaven head. His hair was pitch-black. He did not want to join any raiders before, but the safety that they had assured him sounded like a fair deal. All of the raiders were dressed in skimpy and blood covered rags that bared the majority of their skin. Their leader wore an old welder's mask with a big vicious smile painted across it.

"I got you a welcoming present too," he said as he raised his beer bottle. One of the other raiders injected himself with some psycho and began shaking crazily as he laughed, "Go to the other hut and enjoy yourself; none of us have had a turn yet so go wild!"

The man shook his head and got up to leave. He was wearing a leather jacket and torn jeans. He had different bits of armor, such as kneepads and shoulder pads, melded onto his jacket. He exited the first building and turned to enter the other. When he opened the rickety door, the sight before him actually put look of disgust on his face. A single bed took up the majority of the one room shack, and on it was a scared looking woman who looked to be only nineteen or so, just like him. She cringed and tried to scream, but it was muffled by the rope gagging her mouth and her bindings made it impossible to struggle. She had thick black hair that draped down to her shoulders, and darker skin, maybe of a middle-eastern family line. She had only her bra and panties on.

The man had never changed his mind on something so quickly in his entire life.

He ducked down and approached the girl. She tried to scream once again, but he calmed her with a shushing sound repeated over and over until she stopped struggling. Tears soaked her cheeks, and he brushed them off gently. He put his finger to his mouth and another to hers.

"I need you to be quite so I can get you out of here." her eyes showed blatant confusion, "Can you do that for me?" he whispered. The girl nodded her head and watched as the rough looking stranger unknotted her bindings and then cut the gag from her mouth with his knife. She thought about screaming, but didn't.

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered.

"Because these guys are sick!" he answered, still in a hushed tone. "I didn't sign up to rape helpless chicks."

"Then I guess I should be thankful…" she said as she felt her burning wrists with rope patterns imprinted into her brown skin.

"I can't believe I helped those assholes." He said, "I'm gonna go fix this." He said as he made his way back to the door.

"Wait." The girl interrupted.

"What?"

"… What's your name?" she asked her rescuer. The man paused and turned to stare into her soft hazel-brown eyes.

"Clement, but everyone calls me Clay." Clay pointed to the girl now.

"Roshni, just call me Rosh." She answered. Clay nodded.

"Stay right here, Rosh. Things are gonna get dirty." He tore off his bandolier that was hidden underneath his jacket and three grenades were attached. He looked around and saw a canister of gasoline sitting on the ground. He wrapped the tethered grenades around the canister and left the building without another word or explanation.

When he reached the other building he could hear the laughing of his "Friends" from outside the door. Without a second thought he pulled the pins on all three grenades and opened the door, slamming it against the wall.

"Thanks for the gift!" he screamed as he hurled the explosives into the larger shack. The leader gasped and ducked behind his seat. Clay dodged behind the outer wall and listened as the explosion lit the whole main room ablaze and shook the area, collapsing part of the roof. The four sadists were dead, and their limbs were scattered all around. The leader's body was missing both legs and an arm, and he was still twitching with fading life. The numerous fires around the room crackled as the flames licked up the shack walls and destroyed the ancient furniture. Rosh came up behind him, wearing more clothes now, a sweater and jeans. The fire had spread to the outer walls already, and the rough winds fed their fiery tendrils the oxygen they so hungrily craved.

"Inventive…" Rosh remarked. Clay smiled, but it quickly faded.

"Other raider parties will invite themselves over to see what the commotion is. We'd better leave."

"Where will we go?" she asked.

"We'll be safer if we stick together, follow me." Clay said, not waiting for her to object. He approached a large rock surrounded by decaying trees with crisp black bark, and he reached his hand into a large hole in the stone. He pulled out a hunting rifle, and a 10mm SMG. He tossed the SMG to Rosh and strapped the rifle onto his own back. He then pulled out two .357 revolvers and handed one of them to the girl.

"Have you ever shot a gun before?" he asked as he reached back into the rock.

"Would I be alive otherwise?" Rosh replied slyly.

Clay laughed, "Fair enough." He pulled his arm out again, and grunted as he pulled with it a heavy bag of ammunition. He scanned through the bag with his probing hands until he found some rounds for his rifle, and then more for the SMG. He tossed a box of ammunition to Rosh and tucked some of his own into his pockets. Rosh filled both of her weapons with Ammo and then put them on her hip.

"You still didn't really answer my question, you know?" she said.

"South, and maybe west or east, we'll go as far away from this place as possible."

"So… you don't ACTUALLY know where we're going, do you?" she asked as she crossed her arms. The wind picked up and made her hair flow with the breeze.

"Notta' fuckin' clue." Clay smiled.

* * *

Saskatchewan, former highway 13…

It was around sundown. The SUV tore down the roadways trying to make good time, before the wasteland's winter became truly unbearable. Martin, Jaden and Gwen were asleep, which left time for the three other boys to talk. Emile leaned forward over the seat beside Joseph.

"We'll have pretty smooth sailing until we get to Manitoba, then things will get tough." Emile said.

"What do you mean?" Joseph asked him.

"A large chunk of southern Manitoba is raider territory. Any raider gangs that couldn't make it down south come up to Canada and make a killin' there." He explained.

"That doesn't sound good." Mathew said.

"It's not, but if we drive fast enough, we'll be fine."

"What if we went farther south and came up over the other side of the great lakes?" Joseph suggested. Emile shook his head.

"Too dangerous down there, 'specially with the Pitt and what-not."

"But we'd be making a lot better time if we crossed in between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. We could still avoid the Pitt all together." Mathew argued. Emile thought about it for a moment and scratched his chin.

"I suppose we could do that, but I've never gone that route before." Emile said.

"Okay, we'll cross to the states at a town named Portal that's right on the border." Mathew decided, as he looked down at his map. Joseph was still troubled by their experience back in the last town, and he hoped that they would not run into another scene like that anytime soon.

Mathew pulled over to the side of the road suddenly, and the halt in movement jolted everyone awake. Mathew turned back to the rest of them and put the vehicle into park.

"I'm tired, so we're just gonna go to sleep here." Matt said. Joseph looked around. They were surrounded by old cars that had been scattered across the highway, and the skeletons of their owners.

"Fine," said Joseph, "But let's not stay here for too long." Joseph motioned to Jaden and the two of them climbed into the back of the vehicle where blankets had been lain out. Emile and Gwen reclined their seats and embraced each other as Martin took the middle row all to himself. Jaden pulled Joseph closer to her as they laid down on one of the blankets, and he didn't object. Joseph was about to drift off to sleep when suddenly he felt something grab onto a very sensitive appendage through his jumpsuit's fly. He looked at Jaden and she had a devious smile plastered across her face. He looked down again to see her hand reaching through his pants. He blushed so much it was like he had bad sunburn on his cheeks. Jaden laughed silently and then whispered to him.

"So THAT'S what that feels like…" she said, still smiling. Joseph seemed very tense and he jumped slightly when he felt her tug. He spoke quietly enough so no one would hear them.

"I don't want to-!"

"Don't want to what? I'm just having a bit of fun, we're not doing THAT yet, right?" she reasoned. Joseph wanted to argue now, but his other brain took charge.

"… Okay…" he said.

* * *

The stars of the twilight sky of midnight blue rose high in the heavens as the moon shown down on the wastes. Clement and Roshni had walked a total of twenty kilometres in four hours.

"How long will we have to walk for?" Rosh asked as they trudged through the fields of long grass and mutated plants. Clay walked along with his rifle placed firmly upon his back and his pistol resting comfortably in its holster. He turned to look at Rosh.

"Probably a long while still…" his sentence seemed to trail off. He was tired, although he did not want to admit any weakness in front of anybody. He stumbled over a jutting rock and nearly fell before recovering. Rosh laughed slightly.

"It isn't funny! Our lives are in danger if we don't get out of here soon." Clay said angrily as he continued walking forward. Rosh just shook her head and followed after him. The grass rustled noisily beneath each step the pair took and small animals rustled past them every so often. The duo on the run paid these animals no heed as they continued their escape from the clutches of the surrounding raider gangs. Clay saw a light flash in their direction coming from the distance.

"Down!" He whispered as he grabbed Rosh and took her down to the ground with him. He unfolded some of the grass underneath them and threw some atop them so that it would give the illusion of no one having been there in the first place. Then he heard footsteps.

"Do you hea-!?" Rosh tried to ask.

"SH!" he shushed her and pushed the girl's head down lower to the ground. Clay could hear the voices of some raiders that he had met the week before, coming from the south. They must have taken a different route, maybe with a vehicle, to get here before them.

"Where did Grim-lock say they went?" shouted one of them.

"Shit!" whispered Clay, "Grim-lock was the leader, how can he not be dead?"

"The guys up north said that before he keeled over," said another raider, "He said that they grabbed their weapons cache and went south."

"How'd he die?"

"Got his limbs blown clean off; improvised bomb or some shit." The raiders were no more than twenty meters away from the runners now, and they were only getting closer with time. At least the leader of his old gang was dead, but now every gang in eastern Winnipeg would be after them.

"There's no way they ran this far so fast!"

"Yeah!? Well they can't seem to find them anywhere up north so be my guest and go check it out!" he pointed north through the grass. The other raider sighed and began to walk through the grass again. He was the one holding the flashlight. Clay held his breath and tucked Rosh partially under his own body as the raiders began to walk closer toward them. Their steps seemed to go on forever as the two runaways awaited their discovery. Clay slowly pulled the .357 from his waist and waited for even longer. The light quickly flashed into his eyes through the grass and he squinted as the fiendish looking raider moved it to look at another bunch of grass. The sound of the crunching dry grass rustling back and forth was as loud as a gunshot when the two bandits walked by their prey, missing them by only a foot on each side. After two more minutes, the two sets of footsteps had disappeared and only a faint flicker of light could be seen when the pair of absconders turned back to the north to see if their hunters had gone. Clay grabbed Rosh and they both rose to their feet. Alone again.

"We have to go!" Clay whispered, "Now!" so they continued running south.

* * *

"Gimme all your fucking caps!" screamed a wanderer as he came up beside the SUV and put a pistol to Mathew's head through the open window. Matt seemed very tired and confused, but came to his senses quickly.

"Whoa, whoa, easy killer! We'll give you your caps." He said. Emile was awake now and he started rooting around in the back of the vehicle to find the bag of caps.

Joseph woke up now too, but Jaden was still sound asleep. He was about to say something sappy into Jaden's ear, but then he heard someone say:

"Hurry up!" and then he saw a gun jutting through the window. From this angle he could not see the thief, which also meant that the thief couldn't see him. He looked around and noticed that the back of the SUV was slightly ajar – he or Jaden must have kicked it open during the night. Joseph reached over and grabbed his still unblooded fire axe. He pushed the back of the SUV open slowly and saw that at least an inch of snow must have fallen within the night as it blanketed the road and the nearby grass.

"Hurry! The fuck! UP!" The man screamed. Mathew still had his hands up.

"He's getting it, just give us some time and you'll have what you want." He said as he motioned for Emile to keep looking.

"Hey! Dickless!" Joseph yelled. The man with the pistol turned and did not even have time to scream as the fire axe hit him in the right side of the head, splattering blood all over the SUV (some inside) and splitting his head nearly in half. As the man's body slumped against the vehicle Joseph put his foot on the man's head and yanked his axe out, spilling blood all over the snow with bits of flesh and bone. He pushed the body to the snow and breathed heavily. Everyone in the car was awake now, and they were all looking at Joseph. Blood dribbled from the blade of the axe to the snow and steam rose from the corpse and its leavings.

"Am I the only one that found it funny how he responded to "Dickless"?" Joseph said with a shrug.

* * *

Clay and Rosh were now more than sixty kilometers from Winnipeg, and it seemed like they might have been in the clear as they approached the next town. It didn't seem like this town was overly affected by the war as most of the houses were still in an upright position. A green highway sign – that was bent completely over – marked the upcoming town as "Grunthal".

The pair entered the town and walked bit by bit down the dead-tree lined streets, wary of any threats that could come to claim them. Clay had his bolt-action hunting rifle positioned firmly against his shoulder and Rosh had her small 10mm SMG held forward with both hands. Clay breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon, but kept it at the ready. Rosh followed his example and did the same.

"We should try and get some food. We haven't eaten in almost a day." Clay suggested.

"Make that two days for me." Rosh corrected as she held her stomach. Clay continued walking and felt even more relieved when he spotted a convenience store down the road. It looked to be a more recent building style, likely built just before the war.

"Let's check there for some food." He said as he spun his rifle strap around and readied his pistol. The two of them walked for a minute more, cautiously still, until they reached the corner store. The broken glass door was already off of its hinges and shattered on the store's floor. It looked like the place had been untouched for years, but looks could be deceiving.

Clay walked up beside one of the many aisles of the store and a ghoul popped out from behind it, arms thrown forward trying to grab him as the zombified man growled at him unintelligibly with decayed flesh hanging from its lips. Clay pushed back the surprisingly strong feral ghoul and drew his pistol up in front of him. He pulled the trigger without a second thought, splattering the ghoul's head contents onto another aisle further into the store. Crimson goo and gore slid down the white shelf as the feral fell to the ground with a sizable bullet wound where his eye used to be. Clay wiped off what little blood had splattered onto his face.

"Still hungry?" Rosh smiled. Clay just laughed.

"You damn well bet I am." He said as he stepped over the radioactive man's body and began to peruse the shelves for anything edible. He pulled a few cans of unopened chicken soup off of the shelf and showed them to Rosh, implying he had found them their meal.

"Yay, or Nay?" he asked.

"Sure, why not?" she said as she grabbed one of the cans from out of his hands. "How are we gonna start a fire?" she asked.

"Fire?" he said as he stabbed the can with his knife and began to crack it open. He passed the knife to Rosh. "Who needs a fire?" he took the can and began to chug back the ancient, processed contents with gusto. Rosh looked utterly disgusted, but so too was she hungry. She grudgingly gulped back the soup and cringed as it slithered down her throat, bypassing her tongue to stop her from gagging. She threw the can to the ground and shuddered once more.

"That was gross." She said holding her tongue out in abhorrence. Clay scoffed and wiped his mouth, dripping with saliva.

"To each, their own." He said with a smile.


	14. Nuclear Winter Wonderland

It was sundown once again, and there seemed to be not a cloud in the sky. Joseph hoped that it would stay that way.

"Limerick." Answered Mathew as he continued focusing his eyes on the road. His hair had grown even longer since the beginning of their venture.

"Why?" Joseph asked, "What is there to do in a town called "Limerick"?" he shrugged his left arm while his right arm was firmly placed around Jaden's shoulders. She leaned into his chest and nudged his chin with her head, playfully.

"No clue, but we have to see if there is anyone to trade with." Matt answered again. Emile chimed in now from the back seat.

"I've never been through there. Mah' Pops and I would always take a more northern route."

"Well then I guess we're gonna have a little adventure," Martin said, "and hopefully you guys won't get stung to death by a swarm of giant bugs." He laughed to himself and Mathew gave him a quick clout on the back of the head with his disengaged power fist.

"OW! Those hurt whether they're on or not you know!?" Martin said while he rubbed his bruised head.

"I just hope that there isn't anything there except supplies that can walk themselves to the car." Joseph jested. Matt laughed.

"That would be a nice change of pace."

* * *

Clay was still searching around the store for supplies while Rosh leaned against the partially broken window just in case anybody happened by. Tumbleweed blew by once every so often but that was about as exciting as her day seemed to be getting. Her eyes jolted up when she thought she had spotted something moving on top of the building across the street from them. It was a brick building with a large sign atop it on which the letters had been crossed out with paint. Rosh was about to ask if Clay could hurry up, until she heard footsteps coming from the north road. She poked her head out of the broken glass and saw five raiders, armed with assault rifles. She gasped and then ducked back inside the building, running toward the back wall where Clay was looking across the shelves.

"Clay!" she said hushed. "Raiders!" Clay snapped into reality quickly and pressed up against the shelf of one of the front aisles, opposite the doorway. Rosh took the shelf across from that one. They both jutted their heads into the middle aisle and looked forward toward the window. Three of the raiders crossed into their vision before they thought it would be better to hide their heads completely. Clay swallowed hard before pulling his knife and speaking, quiet as a shadow.

"We may not make it, so we might as well even the odds…" Rosh was about to ask him what he meant, but he had already knocked his knuckles against the back of the shelving unit. One of the raider's heads shot over to the store.

"What is it?" another asked him. This raider was wearing a gasmask with a full visor.

"_Go on ahead and search around… I'm gonna go check in here…"_ he drew his rifle forward and stepped slowly toward the door as the other raiders continued looking around the area. He drew closer and closer until Clay could easily hear his masked breathing. He stepped across the broken glass on the ground and then stopped when he saw the body of the Ghoul lying against one of the farther shelving units.

Clay was directly beside him, close enough to touch his grimy skin. He saw that the man was about to turn around and call for his buddies, so that's when he struck.

He dragged the Raider toward him by his shoulder and then pierced the man's throat with his combat knife, gagging him and putting him at death's door. Blood splattered to the floor as Clay twisted the knife and sunk it in deeper, severing the veins in his spinal column. He grabbed the man's body and drifted it down slowly to the ground in his arms, making sure to not produce any noise in the process.

"Rosh," Clay whispered, getting her attention, "Go around the other side of the shelf, wait for another to enter, and then shoot."

"What!?"

"Just do it!" he commanded. She, reluctantly, crossed over to the other side of the shelf and peered around the corner to see the window. One of the raiders was coming their way, with one of his friends following closely behind him. She pressed back up against the back of the shelf and breathed deeply. She looked down into her hands where she held her revolver; it had full ammo. Even though she had never killed anyone before, she had still fired a gun, and if any day was the day to become a killer it was today.

"Hey!" said one of the raiders, "Someone got Jim!" he said as he entered through the broken doorway. Rosh waited for the sound of the broken glass being treaded upon, and then she pivoted around the corner of the shelf with her gun held forward.

She fired twice, one hit the man in his shoulder and the other one missed his torso. He recoiled but she had already fired another shot. This final shot hit him in the mouth, blowing his jaw in half with its full stopping power. He fell to the ground and his friend began aiming around the very darkly lit facility frantically. Rosh ducked back behind the shelf.

"Where the fuck are you!?" he said before firing randomly around the room. Clay dived to the ground noiselessly under the cover of the loud shots as bullets pierced through his cover, barely missing him. Rosh looked over to see him diving, but had no time to do so herself as bullets came flying through her shelf. She was hit in the arm and doubled over in pain, crying out from the burning agony.

"Fuck!" Clay shouted as he grabbed his hunting rifle and rolled out into the open. He placed a single bullet perfectly into the Raider's forehead while the man reloaded. He could hear the other raiders now.

"I'm coming! Just keep shooting 'em!" One of the raiders said, not realizing that his friends were already dead.

Clay wasn't sure if he could take on two men with automatic weapons, but he would have to try. He slid over to where Rosh was and pushed her further to the ground.

"Just lay down! You'll be safer." He said before pulling back the bolt on the rifle and peering back into the aisle and looking outside, awaiting his opponents. The two psychotic men came running across the length of the store front with guns blazing in every direction. Clay let off one shot but fell to the ground to avoid more of their shots. It would be impossible to fight when they fought against him like this. He pulled back on the bolt once more and held his gun out to the front of the store, firing once randomly. No hit. He grabbed his revolver and loaded the one empty cartridge before leaning out of his cover and shooting three quick shots. Once again, no hits. More shots came bursting through his cover, barely missing him, and he fell to the ground once more.

Clay was prepared to meet his bitter, but deserved end. After living for so long as a free man, he would pay for his crimes with the ultimate price. He began counting his sins, and praying to a god that he was tentative of even believing in. The souls of the people he had killed would haunt him no longer, for their vengeance would be appeased.

Two shots, much louder than that of the automatic rifles, cut through the bleak situation and quieted the shots of the two Raiders. Silence dominated the street for a minute or two. Then a voice, raspy and groveled; the man whom owned the voice almost sounded barely able to speak.

"Hey! Are you two alive down there!?" the voice sounded not too distant. Clay was still shocked that he was not dead. Death would have to wait. He looked down at his clothes and saw that the masked raider's blood had been smeared across his undershirt and pants. When he forgot his voice, the man spoke again.

"Hello!?"

Clay snapped back, "Yeah! We're okay… thank you!"

"I heard the girl scream! Is she alright!?" asked the gravely-voiced man. Clay looked over to see Rosh still lying on the ground clutching at her bleeding arm. She was biting her lip to stop from crying out loud, but tears flowed down her cheeks regardless. Smoke was still rising from the bullet holes left all around the building.

"She's hit!" Clay answered, "Took a shot in the arm!"

"Bring her out here and we'll fix her up!" the man called before letting out a wheezing, hacking cough. Clay raised his brow.

"How can we trust you!?" he asked. The rough man laughed, wheezing again.

"I would have shot you through your cover by now if I wanted to kill you!" he said. Clay could not argue with that logic. He slowly crawled his way over to Rosh and grabbed her by the waist and shoulder, hoisting her to her own two feet. The two of them hobbled out of the store and Clay finally saw the face of the man who had saved their lives from atop the building across the street.

It was not a pretty face. Or a handsome face, or even an average face, and ugly seemed to be more of a compliment than an insult at this point.

The man who had saved their lives was a ghoul that had not yet gone feral, unlike the one that was lying dead on the floor in the convenience store. He had only holes for ears and no visible nose. His lips seemed not to be lips at all, just the same disgusting texture of skin as the rest of him. His skin was a sickly red/pink colour – when there was skin, at least. Patches of skin on his arms and neck were gone, revealing the muscles underneath, and it was safe to assume that other parts of his body suffered the same. In the places where there was skin, it appeared leathery and decayed. He had hardly a hair on his head.

As the two humans walked out onto the street, the ghoul reached down behind the sign and grabbed a duffle bag, which he then took with him down a ladder attached to the side of the building. He walked out from the alley beside the building and approached the two survivors of their bloody battle. He placed his rifle on the ground, what appeared to be a refurbished M1 Garand rifle. It must have been ancient, so Clay thought. He kneeled down in front of Rosh as she sat down in front of him. He was wearing full leather armor minus the sleeves. She got an even better look at his decayed face now. Both of his eyes were a sickly blue and grey color and they looked very murky, almost as if he were blind. Clay had been around numerous ghouls before, but as the ghoul reached into his duffle bag Rosh began to shake nervously.

"What are you?" she asked. Clay looked surprised.

"Ha!" the Ghoul laughed showing his yellow teeth, whatever few teeth he had left, "I'm a ghoul. Intelligent, Civilized, not like the one your friend popped in the head over there." He pointed to the convenience store. Clay watched as the Ghoul pulled a Stimpack and pliers from his bag.

"What's your name?" Clay asked him. The ghoul shrugged as he began to examine Rosh's arm.

"Why do you need to know?" he said as he positioned his pliers beside the bullet wound. Rosh pulled her arm back.

"What are you doing!?"

"The healing is more effective if I take out the bullet first, even though it can do it on its own." He turned to Clay, "Get her to bite on something." Clay turned to Rosh.

"Just do what he says."

Rosh nodded back and put the hood of her sweater in her mouth. Clay cringed as the Ghoul pulled the bullet from Rosh's arm and she whimpered through the impromptu gag. He stabbed the stimpack into her arm then and she made a relieved sound, allowing the hood to fall from her mouth, clumped and damp. Clay looked back at the Ghoul once again.

"Your name?" he asked again. The Ghoul sighed.

"Well, if we're going to be traveling together then I-!"

"What are you talking about?" Clay asked. The ghoul smiled, or made what appeared to resemble a smile.

"You two owe me, and I can't stay here now that it looks like a whole army is marching from up north." He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, grabbing his gun from the ground and throwing that across his back. "I've been alive since before the war, I'll be useful to you I'm sure." He said. Clay sighed and pointed to Rosh as she began to rise to her feet.

"This is Rosh, and I'm Clay."

"Name's Galen, now go grab their guns so we can hit the road." The Ghoul said before letting loose another coughing fit.

* * *

"How much longer until we reach town?" Martin asked. Mathew scratched the top of his head covered in greasy hair.

"Ten minutes or more I'd say." Matt replied. Then, over the horizon, they could see it. Everyone's hearts pounded with anticipation as they drove closer and closer to the settlement. And then they saw smoke. When they were close enough, they could see bodies like bloodied specks on the horizon. Matt simply stopped the vehicle and hit the dashboard with his hand out of anger.

"Goddammit!" he said. "Not again!" Martin got on his scope and after a few seconds he sighed.

"It doesn't look like legion… maybe raiders- Wait!" he stopped and then focused back into his scope. Everyone was dead silent.

"What do you see?" Joseph asked.

"Raiders… I definitely see raiders." Martin put his rifle back down and rubbed his head. "What are we gonna do?" before anyone could answer, Jaden had already exited the vehicle with her weapons at the ready.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go kill me some raiders."

Joseph had nearly forgotten about her personal vendetta. Jaden made toward the city with anger prevalent in every part of her being, even the way she walked appeared irate.

"Wait! Jaden!" Joseph called as he ran after her, after grabbing his rifle and axe. He put his axe through part of his pistol's hilt and followed her toward the city.

"Shit…" Matt sighed. He stepped out of the car and turned back as he tightened his helmet around his head. _"Emile, you're coming with us. Martin, when we're close enough to the town throw the SUV into drive – with the lights off – and move close enough to where you can get a clear shot on some of the raiders, if any. Gwen…"_ he looked at the woman and stopped as he thought about what would be best for her and them, _"You stay with Marty. Use Joe's hunting rifle if you have to."_ The steel covered man grabbed his laser rifle and marched toward the two others with Emile following close behind.

Matt and Emile caught up with the two love-birds easily as Joseph was trying to dissuade Jaden from running straight into the city, waving her rifle. Joseph grabbed her shoulder but she slapped his hand away and kept walking.

"Think about this. At least don't charge in like a mad-woman!" that stopped her dead in her tracks. Mathew stopped behind her and Emile nearly bumped into the tall metal man.

"Fine." Jaden said as she turned toward the field of long grass beside them, "We'll play it safe." She walked over to the edge of the freeway and jumped into the tall grass, lying down to hide her presence from the raiders. She continued toward the city by crawling on her elbows in a prone position. Joseph moaned annoyingly.

"Okay, let's go." He too jumped into the grass and got up beside her, brushing his way through the long yellow grass and beyond the muck and dirt. Matt and Emile saw no other choice but to join them. The two boys jumped into the grass on the other side of the freeway and themselves crawled toward the city, the shadows of the field masking their beings. Joseph and Jaden were alone on their side of the freeway, so the always sexually promiscuous Jaden struck up an equally saucy conversation.

"How did you like my performance last night, hm?" Jaden asked. Joseph made an awkward laugh and tried to keep up with the girl as she crawled at a near frantic pace.

"It was… uh, fun." He said. She smiled craftily.

"You're not the biggest guy, that's for sure, but I'll make it work." She made a soft laugh as she stifled herself with her hand at her mouth, "I was amazed at how generously you finished last night. Can't wait till somebody finds the stain."

Just when Joseph thought he couldn't get his cheeks to blush any more intensely, Jaden had made it so.

"Will you shut up!" he whispered, "I don't want the whole world to hear." Jaden laughed again.

"Okay, just keep moving up. Raider's on the menu tonight." She said jokingly. Joseph just hoped that they would survive long enough to actually eat tonight.

* * *

"It's been nine hours…" Rosh commented looking down at her wristwatch, "How much longer will we be walking for?" the three wanderers trekked down the highway south of Grunthal as the sun disappeared behind the horizon of the west. Galen turned his creaky neck toward her and sighed.

"We should be coming up to the border crossing soon; we can rest there for the night if we need to." He said as he pointed with his leathery fingers at a few buildings surrounded by a thick forest of leafless trees their bark black as tar. They approached the building and breathed respite as the ancient customs office was revealed to be completely abandoned. Galen creaked open the door and took a light step inside. He turned in each direction with his rifle held forward, ready to fire if the need arose. It did not, and the office was now known to be truly vacant.

Galen set his bag down in front of one of the many desks and sat down on it, breathing heavily as if tired.

"You alright?" Clay asked the fatigued ghoul. Galen looked up at him and sighed, shaking his head.

"I can walk for a while… but my muscles are old and decayed, I need to rest eventually right."

"Hey," Rosh said suddenly, "Why don't you tell us what it was like before the war? Or maybe how you survived?" she sat down in front of the Ghoulified man and crossed her legs, waiting for his stories to begin. Galen didn't even have time to argue and she was already lingering in front of him expectedly. He groaned to himself and then motioned to Clay.

"You might as well take a load off too." He said. Clay did as the ghoul had suggested and pulled up a chair from one of the old desks with a broken leg. He sat with the chair turned around so he could rest his arms on the back of the seat.

"I don't remember the day that I was born, maybe some time in November or October, who knows? It's been too long. But the year was 2060. I was twenty-seven when the bombs fell, and I remember it like it happened just this morning – so vivid…" his voice seemed to trail off and he became silent for a moment, "The lucky bastards in their vaults had entered just a day before they launched the bombs, as if the government had planned it. People say that China's threats had pushed the American government to the edge, but I say that it was planned from the beginning." He paused again.

"How did you survive?" Rosh asked.

"I was in my basement in Toronto when I heard the first explosion. I poked my head up to look through the basement window and saw the blinding light. I would have been actually blinded if I didn't close my eyes before the shockwave hit; the glass shattered and tore at my face – I may even have shards of it in my skin still." He felt at his face gently and watched his hand slide down his cheek, "I was knocked unconscious and when I woke up… well, I looked like a fucking corpse."

"What about your life before all that?" Rosh continued with her intruding questions.

"Not much to say. I had a girlfriend who I assume was vaporized because when I climbed up out of my basement the wall had been completely torn off on one side and all of the furniture was but ashes on the floor. I was a strict Catholic before… this." He motioned to his decomposed and leathery face. "After the war, I wasn't sure what to think of God."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I wondered if it was punishment for my sins, or maybe he let me live because of a bigger plan he had for me. After years of surviving and doing nothing else but living like a walking carcass, I had nearly forgotten what the word "God" meant to me…" he began scrawling something in the dirt on the floor below with the barrel of his gun as the utensil. "I'm not sure what to believe anymore."

"I never was a believer." Clay added in randomly.

"Bullshit," Galen interrupted before Clay could even explain himself, "Complete bullshit."

"You don't know me; you don't know what I believe." Clay defended his opinion. Galen scoffed at him and made a whistling noise as he giggled hoarsely to himself.

"No one has ever been without religion their whole life."

"Well I have!" Clay seemed to be getting hostile.

"You're telling me that you've never wondered what life was about, or why we're here?" he shot a finger at Clay, "You've never begged or appealed to a higher power, whether you knew it was there or not?"

"Well, I guess I've-!"

"You're telling me that when you were being shot at in that corner store by those lunatics that you weren't silently praying that a guardian angel would descend from nirvana and take you by the hand, saying "Let me save you"!? As a child, you never wondered if there were mystical beings beyond the stars that watched your every move!? That no part of you has ever desired for a divine essence to exis-!" he stopped when he was hit by a coughing fit out of nowhere. Galen's lunges were obviously not in the best condition. Rosh looked worried.

"Do you need-!"

"I'm fine!" he said before continuing his fit. Just like the stereotypical elderly man, he was as stubborn as a mule. "Everyone believes in something whether they truly think so or not, or we would have no reason for living." He rapped on his head with his knuckles, "The subconscious thoughts deep in our noggins… our desire to transcend, to discover or to believe. Those thoughts keep us going every day, but no one ever realizes it."

"Then how did you realize it?" Clay said skeptically. Galen smiled again.

"Age has wizened me, but so too has it opened my eyes."

* * *

"Okay, I'm gonna throw the car into neutral and we can push it, because I don't trust myself with… these?" Martin pointed to the pedal and brake on the floor of the SUV. Gwen laughed a bit and pointed at them herself.

"These, are called pedals, but I don't trust them either so screw it. I've never driven in my life." She stepped out of the vehicle as he did and put the scope of Joseph's rifle to her eye. Martin seized the SUV under his control and put it into neutral. The wind blew past him and almost took his hat with it.

"Well," he said as he went around to the back of the vehicle, "Are you gonna help?" he shrugged at Gwen. Gwen sighed and threw the rifle back into the SUV.

"Fine." She went around standing beside him and then on the count of three they pushed with all their might. The vehicle was surprisingly easier to move than they had thought, but it was still moving at a snail's pace. Gwen grunted as they pushed the hunk of metal closer and closer to the town, not a sound being made other than the soft sound of the rubber treading over the pebbles and the cracked highway.

"You sure you don't want to drive?" Gwen said as she continued grumbling.

"I'm sure. Besides," he took another breath and continued pushing, "it would make too much noise."

After another minute of pushing with their full strength, Martin felt the breeze becoming stronger and stronger, until he had to hold onto his hat and push on the SUV with his back. When he turned around and began pushing his mouth gaped open as he saw the source of the gale. A formation of tall, gray clouds larger than any he had ever seen in his life swelled behind them and skulked closer to them with every second that passed. Martin tapped on Gwen's shoulder just as snow began to fall around them. She turned and instantly let go of the vehicle, instead diving inside the passenger-side door and shutting the door behind her.

"Get in!" she hollered from inside. Martin held his fedora down on his head as he ripped open the driver-side door and leaped into the seat, slamming the SUV door.

"Have you never been outside the vault during winter?" Gwen asked. Martin shook his head.

"No, no I had never left the vault until I was fifteen, and even then I never went out in the winter."

"Well, shit!" she reached into the back and pulled out all of the blankets she could, "Ever since the bombs fell, the weather hasn't been itself. We won't be getting normal weather up here for a few hundred more years I imagine." She passed three blankets over to him, "We have to stay warm or we're dead."

"But… But how can the weather change so suddenly!? And just how cold is it gonna get!?" Martin was frantic, this was all new to him. Sudden snow storms the size of hurricanes out of nowhere did not seem at all possible. Then again, radiation seemed to make a lot of things possible.

Gwen shot him a worried look.

"Ever heard of Antarctica?" she asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Yeah… almost that cold."

* * *

"It's kinda getting chilly out…" Jaden commented as her warm breath cut though the blades of grass as she lied down in the field with Joseph close beside her. It would be nearly pitch black if not for the fires roaring in the settlement, the same fires that were flickering violently in the wind as the storm began to pick up speed. Joseph turned around and saw the clouds behind them – he was amazed at their size. Lightning began to flash in the distance and thunder crashed down into the nearby fields. Crystalline flakes of silvery ice fell from the sky, small but by the thousands, hundred thousands. They did not fall gently because the wind would not allow it. The gusts grabbed the snowflakes and hurled them eastward, pelting the wanderers and nearby raiders all the same. The grass around them was fixed to the east as well, nearly revealing the sneaks as they crawled through the stirring blades of grass being blown east.

"Shit…" Jaden whispered.

"Where in the hell did that come from?" asked Joseph right in her face. The wind was too loud to allow her to hear his voice otherwise.

"This is winter in the wastes, Babe. Get used to it." She took her hood and covered her head as she continued forward with her face low to the ground. Joseph didn't understand; it was only, what, September? Early October, maybe? Yet here she was speaking about the hellish winters, and with proof to back up her warnings.

They were very close to the ransacked settlement now, and the raiders were none the wiser of their arrival thanks to the cover of the storm. Without warning Jaden beforehand, Joseph waited on the thunder and then bolted out of the prairie grass, taking cover from the vision of the raiders behind the wall of a house. The settlement had a large rickety gate that had obviously been made post-war, and the villagers' corpses were strewn along its numerous ropes and coils of barbed-wire. Women and children were not spared.

Joseph peered slowly around the corner of the wall to spot the raiders that had done the deed. Obviously high on "Psycho" one of the three present raiders – gathered around a campfire – punctured his arm with a large needle and began to shudder as he injected the intoxicating substance into himself. Thunder roared again, and suddenly Jaden was on the wall across from him, on the other side of the raiders with her rifle drawn, a full ten feet away maybe. A human triangle of death. Mathew and Emile had moved up too, and they motioned with their hands. The adrenaline from Joseph's initial dash to the wall had now worn off, and he could feel the bitter cold again.

The air was getting thinner and thinner, so they would have to act fast. He put his black hood up and zipped up his coat most of the way, only revealing his chest-holster. He felt down at his belt to find the fire axe; a few clumps of dirt had gotten caught on its blade when they were crawling on the ground, but it was still there. He checked the magazine in his rifle as the raiders continued laughing and cooking meat over their impromptu metal-barrel fire-pit. Full mag. He placed the magazine back in its home and flicked the safety off on the G36. He could see Jaden's teeth chattering as the winds began to pick up even more speed. She nodded. Joseph took one quick look at his life-form sensing compass. Ten living things, all of them supposed hostile. He nodded now too. The couple looked over to see the two other boys giving them the thumbs up. Jaden gave Joseph the same gesture. It was his call.

Without another word he pressed his rifle's butt firmly against his shoulder and breathed. On the exhale, he quickly turned the corner and made his marks. One. Two. Three shots left the barrel of his gun. Two hit the highest of the three junkies, both in the back. He fell forward, now dead, into the fire pit startling his friends. The third bit of hot lead penetrated the right one's shoulder, making him stumble back and trip over the log that he had been sitting on. Jaden flew around the corner with her hair caught in the wind and not completely in her hood. She shot her rifle twice, hitting the formerly unharmed raider in the chest with both. She then jumped over the log and then drew her 10mm pistol that Joseph had given her. She aimed at the man that Joseph had hit in the shoulder.

"Say goodnight, asshole." She said as she pumped the wounded man with four shots from her pistol; obviously a waste, but a good way to vent her stress without danger to her companions. More thunder roared from behind and Joseph could hear the sounds of both an AK-47 and an AER9 Laser-Rifle nearby.

Joseph ran haphazardly around the next bend and out into the street where five more raiders were firing away at his friends. None of them were facing him. The two men being fired at leaned their rifles over a concrete block and fired aimlessly into the crowd. One bullet from the AK made contact with a raider`s neck, ripping apart his jugular vein. Joseph ducked behind another block of concrete to stop from meeting his end via friendly-fire. He leaned out the side of the block as Jaden came up from behind him. He pressed the VATS mode button on his Pip-Boy and instantly shot two of the raider`s in the head. As they slumped lifeless to the ground, their allies turned in horror at the gaping holes in their heads and the pool of blood that had gathered there. In their distraction Mathew hit one in the chest with his Laser-rifle, disintegrating his insides. Jaden took the last one with her pistol – shooting him twice in his bare chest. How cold they must have been?

Two more Raiders came tearing down the main street with their weapons spitting hot lead in every direction. They were quickly dispatched by Emile and Mathew, with blood and ashes everywhere. The wind was picking up and Joseph could even hear the chattering of Mathew's teeth through his helmet.

"_Everyone inside that building!"_ he pointed to what appeared to be an abandoned grocery store on Joseph and Jaden's side of the street. _"Now!"_ The group dived through the door as Emile and Mathew worked to barricade it with old dilapidated shelves broken in numerous places. When they were done, they slid down the wall heaving every breath. Mathew removed his helmet and continued rattling his teeth. The inside of the building was not much warmer.

"I guess we're stuck here for the night…" Mathew said as he hung his head down.


End file.
